دانلود رایگان مقاله سیستم خودکار ساده برای تهویه مطلوب گورخرماهی در مخازن خانه هایشان

ABSTRACT

We describe here an automated apparatus that permits rapid conditioning paradigms for zebrafish. Arduino microprocessors were used to control the delivery of auditory or visual stimuli to groups of adult or juvenile zebrafish in their home tanks in a conventional zebrafish facility. An automatic feeder dispensed precise amounts of food immediately after the conditioned stimuli, or at variable delays for controls. Responses were recorded using inexpensive cameras, with the video sequences analysed with ImageJ or Matlab. Fish showed significant conditioned responses in as few as 5 trials, learning that the conditioned stimulus was a predictor of food presentation at the water surface and at the end of the tank where the food was dispensed. Memories of these conditioned associations persisted for at least 2 days after training when fish were tested either as groups or as individuals. Control fish, for which the auditory or visual stimuli were specifically unpaired with food, showed no comparable responses. This simple, low-cost, automated system permits scalable conditioning of zebrafish with minimal human intervention, greatly reducing both variability and labour-intensiveness. It will be useful for studies of the neural basis of learning and memory, and for high-throughput screening of compounds modifying those processes.

5. Conclusions

With increasing use of zebrafish as models for the study oflearning and memory, it becomes important to establish paradigms to test a fuller range of this animal’s behavioural repertoire. Demand for high-throughput screening further requires efficient training procedures that can produce robust learning and long-lasting memories. The appetitive paradigms described here meet these demands by quickly and reliably conditioning zebrafish to associate neutral auditory or visual stimuli with food in under 20 trials over less than 2 days. The paradigms, with our inexpensive automated apparatus, can easily be run using groups of either adult or juvenile fish in their home tanks, thus eliminating the need for specialized tanks and extended periods of acclimation. After training, fish can be removed from the observation arenas and moved back to maintenance racks while awaiting probe trials for memory retention. In this way, we have shown that fish trained in groups can learn individually, demonstrating long-term memories lasting at least 2 days. We anticipate that these automated paradigms will find widespread use for rapid, high-throughput investigations of learning and memory in zebrafish.