Citation

Neelkantan N, Mikhaylova A, Stewart AM, Arnold R, Gjeloshi V, Kondaveeti D, Poudel M, Kalueff AV. ACS Chem. Neurosci. 2013; 4(8): 1137-1150.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2013, American Chemical Society)

DOI

10.1021/cn400090q

PMID

23883191

Abstract

Among different classes of psychotropic drugs, hallucinogenic agents exert one of the most prominent effects on human and animal behaviors, markedly altering sensory, motor, affective and cognitive responses. The growing clinical and preclinical interest in psychedelic, dissociative and deliriant hallucinogens necessitates novel translational, sensitive and high-throughput in-vivo models and screens. Primate and rodent models have been traditionally used to study cellular mechanisms and neural circuits of hallucinogenic drugs' action. The utility of zebrafish (Danio rerio) in neuroscience research is rapidly growing due to their high physiological and genetic homology to humans, ease of genetic manipulation, robust behaviors and cost effectiveness. Possessing a fully characterized genome, both adult and larval zebrafish are currently widely used for in-vivo screening of various psychotropic compounds, including hallucinogens and related drugs. Recognizing the growing importance of hallucinogens in biological psychiatry, here we discuss hallucinogenic-induced phenotypes in zebrafish, and evaluate their potential as efficient pre-clinical models of drug-induced states in humans.

Language: en