Rising to the top: Surfacing Behaviour Reflects Swimbladder Filling in Zebrafish
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18192/osurj.v5i2.8054Abstract
In zebrafish, the swim bladder is filled by swallowing air at the water’s surface. Adjusting the
volume of the swim bladder allows the fish to achieve neutral buoyancy at a given depth.
Zebrafish lacking functional expression of the serotonin (5-HT) reuptake transporter Sertb
(sertb-knockout, sertb-KO; slc6a4b) exhibit “surfacing behaviour”, spending essentially all of
their time at the top of the water column. In the current study, we aimed to determine whether
surfacing behaviour in sertb-KO fish is associated with swim bladder filling and buoyancy. We
measured buoyancy by placing anesthetized sertb-KO zebrafish larvae at 7 days post-fertilization
(dpf) in a water column to assess the rate and direction of movement, and calculated swim
bladder volume from photographs. The sertb-KO larvae displayed higher buoyancy than
wildtype (WT) larvae, and higher buoyancy was associated with larger swim bladder volume.
Treatment of WT larvae with fluoxetine, a selective inhibitor of Sert, was also associated with
higher buoyancy and swim bladder volume. Conversely, treatment of sertb-KO larvae with the
serotonin synthesis inhibitor p-chlorophenylalanine (pCPA) resulted in decreased buoyancy and
smaller swim bladder volume. Further, WT larvae treated with an agonist of the 5-HT1A receptor
displayed higher buoyancy and swim bladder volume. These results implicate elevated swim
bladder volume in surfacing behaviour, and confirm a link between elevated serotonin levels and
swim bladder volume, likely mediated by the 5-HT1A receptor. A key remaining question is
whether surfacing behaviour is caused by serotonin-mediated swim bladder over-filling, or
whether sertb-KO larvae choose to be at the surface and over-fill the swim bladder to help them
remain there.
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