Males and females Danio Roerio react differently to alcohol

Scientists of the Moscow Physics and Technology Institute in cooperation with colleagues from Russia and Brazil analyzed the influence of alcohol on the fish of Danio Rerio , depending on the gender. It turned out that the males of this species in a state of alcoholic excitement become more aggressive than females. The study was spoke about the study by the press service of the MIPT.

“Our work was devoted to determining the sexual specificity of Danio fish for further pharmacological and physiological studies. An example was the reaction of men's and female fish to chronic and acute alcohol effects. In the course of the study, it was shown that the fish, depending on the floor, behave differently , ”said Alan Kaluev Professor Alan Kaluev, the main researcher at the laboratory of the molecular biological and neurobiological problems and Bioskringing of the MIPT.

Like rodents, Danio Roerio demonstrates obvious sexual differences in the reactions associated with alcohol. For example, it turned out that the females of these fish, which have exposed to 0.5 % of alcohol, explore the new object faster and are more sensitive to the behavioral effects of chronic ethanol use, such as aggregation in flocks than males. Of course, in this case it is impossible to draw a direct analogy with a person, but all animal models are somewhat close to us. Many physiological processes on animal models show similar trends in people, which contributes to the selection of therapy based on preclinical research.

“The novelty of our study is that the issue of inter -sexual distinction is raised. Quite active studies of recent years have been conducted outside of gender, since it is believed that, unlike a person and rodents, the fish do not differ so much, for example, women's individuals do not have a cycle, but the latest publications and articles showed that Danio Roerio also has other differences at a genome and intercript level, which is another evidence, the need to lay the difference in research. Otherwise, this can mix a statistical sample and change the interpretation of the results, ” said Elena Petersen, the head of the laboratory of molecular biological and neurobiological problems and Biosciring of the MIPT.

Given the rapidly growing role of Danio fish in biomedical studies and their potential for highly effective screening of drugs, the best understanding of sexual differences can contribute to modeling disorders associated with alcohol, and studying the effect of alcohol on the brain and behavior. This strategy can become especially promising to study the neurotropic effects of alcohol, for which obvious gender differences are described clinically.

Scientific work was published in the journal Frontiers in Neuroendocrinology.