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Browsing by Author "Winberg, Svante"

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  • Social modulation of brain monoamine levels in zebrafish
    Publication . Teles, Magda; Dahlbom, S. Josefin; Winberg, Svante; Oliveira, Rui Filipe
    In social species animals tend to adjust their social behaviour according to the available social information in the group, in order to optimize and improve their one social status. This changing environment requires for rapid and transient behavioural changes that relies primarily on biochemical switching of existing neural networks. Monoamines and neuropeptides are the two major candidates to mediate these changes in brain states underlying socially behavioural flexibility. In the current study we used zebrafish (Danio rerio) males to study the effects of acute social interactions on rapid regional changes in brain levels of monoamines (serotonin and dopamine). A behavioural paradigm under which male zebrafish consistently express fighting behaviour was used to investigate the effects of different social experiences: winning the interaction, losing the interaction, or fighting an unsolved interaction (mirror image). We found that serotonergic activity is significantly higher in the telencephalon of winners and in the optic tectum of losers, and no significant changes were observed in mirror fighters suggesting that serotonergic activity is differentially regulated in different brain regions by social interactions. Dopaminergic activity it was also significantly higher in the telencephalon of winners which may be representative of social reward. Together our data suggests that acute social interactions elicit rapid and differential changes in serotonergic and dopaminergic activity across different brain regions.
    2013Journal article Open access Show more
  • Social phenotypes in Zebrafish
    Publication . Nunes, Ana Rita; Ruhl, Nathan; Winberg, Svante; Oliveira, Rui Filipe
    Zebrafish are an established model organism in developmental and behavioral neuroscience, also recently emerging as an excellent model to study social behavior. Zebrafish are highly social, forming groups (shoals) with structured social relationships, dominance hierarchies and overt territoriality. Moreover, social behavior in zebrafish exhibits considerable plasticity both within- (i.e., as a context-dependent behavior) and between individuals (e.g., sex-differences, personality and coping styles) of the same strain, as well as between strains. This richness and plasticity of social behavior, together with the genetic tools available to visualize and manipulate neural circuits in zebrafish places it in the forefront of studying the neurobiological mechanisms underlying complex social behavior. Here, we review the cognitive abilities involved in social behavior, as well as the different functional classes of social behavior present in zebrafish and their variation. We also highlight recent ground-breaking methodological developments in the field, including automated image-based tracking and classification of behavior coupled with video-animated social stimuli, which collectively foster the development of future high-throughput screens of zebrafish social phenotypes.
    2017Book part Restricted access Show more