Aggressive-like behavior and increased glycine transporters in a zebrafish model of CHARGE syndrome.

Aggressive-like behavior and increased glycine transporters in a zebrafish model of CHARGE syndrome. Behav Brain Res. 2019 Oct 11;:112293 Authors: Liu H, Liu ZZ Abstract Coloboma, heart defects, choanal atresia, restricted growth and development, genital hypoplasia, ear abnormalities and/or hearing loss (CHARGE) syndrome is a congenital disorder that is mainly caused by mutations within chromodomain helicase DNA-binding protein 7 (chd7). Behavioral abnormalities have been addressed in CHARGE syndrome, but the underlying mechanisms are still poorly understood. Here, we performed four behavioral tests-including the open-field test, novel-tank test, shoaling test and mirror-induced attack test-in chd7 heterozygous zebrafish mutants in order to characterize the behavioral abnormalities in a zebrafish model of CHARGE syndrome. We found that chd7 heterozygous mutants exhibited anxious-like behavior and aggressive-like behavior in the open-field test and in the mirror-induced attack test, respectively, which resembled the reported behavioral abnormalities in CHARGE syndrome in humans. Moreover, we found that glycine and D-cycloserine treatment rescued the aggressive behavior of chd7 heterozygous zebrafish mutants, indicating that the excitation and inhibition balance might be disrupted in the brains of chd7 heterozygous zebrafish mutants. Further analysis showed that the expression of glycine transporters was dramatically increased in the b...
Source: Behavioural Brain Research - Category: Neurology Authors: Tags: Behav Brain Res Source Type: research