RESUMEN
Zebrafish is a prominent vertebrate model, with many of its advantages related to its development, life cycle, and translational ability. While a great number of behavioral phenotypes and tasks to evaluate them are available, longitudinal studies across zebrafish life stages are scarce and made challenging because of the differences between protocols and endpoints assessed at each life stage. In this mini review, we highlight the relevance that longitudinal studies could have for neurobehavioral pharmacology using this model. We also present possible strategies to standardize behavior endpoints in domains related to human diseases throughout the life cycle, especially between larvae and adult fish. Furthermore, we discuss the remaining difficulties of these analyses and explore future advances needed to bridge this knowledge gap.
RESUMEN
The mTORC1 complex integrates different inputs from intracellular and extracellular signals to control various cellular processes. Therefore, any disruption in the mTORC1 pathway could promote different neurological disorders. mTORC1 overactivation has been verified in different genetic and acquired epilepsy animal models. Therefore, inhibitors of this complex could have both antiepileptogenic and antiseizure effects. In our study, we investigated the effects of rapamycin pretreatment on pentylenetetrazole (PTZ)-induced seizures in zebrafish. Our results have shown that the latency to reach the tonic-clonic stage (stage III) of progressive behavioral alterations shown during PTZ-induced seizures was prolonged in larval (7days post fertilization, 7dpf), juvenile (45days post fertilization, 45dpf) and adult (6-8months) zebrafish after pretreatment with rapamycin. Furthermore, rapamycin pretreatment did not alter the locomotor activity in zebrafish. Therefore, the results obtained in our study indicate that rapamycin pretreatment is an important mechanism to control the progress of seizures in zebrafish throughout different developmental stages (larval, juvenile, and adult). Taken as a whole, our data support that rapamycin has immediate antiseizure effects and could be a potential alternative therapy for seizure control in epilepsy.