Meeting Abstract
A period of environmental experiences can influence an individual’s brain and behavior, such as the capacity to retain memory, long after the insuring experience. Zebrafish (Danio rerio) have distinct behavioral, physiological, and neuronal responses to stressors. Though epigenetic changes such as histone modifications and DNA methylation have been shown to be responsive in the mammal brain, it is less known how these capabilities influence learning and memory in adult zebrafish, let alone these behaviors after stress experience. The extent of regenerative capacity of the zebrafish as a potentially mitigating response to chronic stress can be examined in learning and memory, in which cumulative stress effects can manifest. To address this question, we chronically stressed adult zebrafish with unpredictable environmental changes, and subsequently compared learning behavior and memory capabilities to those of unstressed zebrafish. In addition to behavior, we compared gene expression and analyzed associated epigenetic modifications such as histone methylation related to the aforementioned behaviors, as well as stress, in the telencephalon. These findings elucidate the capacity of a teleost species to learn and remember a novel association after a chronic stress experience. Focusing on epigenetic transcriptional regulation of gene expression changes in the telencephalon will contribute to a better understanding of mechanisms of neural gene regulation associated with learning and memory formation that are susceptible to stress.
