SYDNEY, Oct. 26 (Xinhua) -- New findings about zebrafish by researchers in Australia have challenged assumptions about the biological complexity required for mental-health-related behaviors.
Researchers from Griffith University's Institute for Biomedicine and Glycomics have created the first complete collection of zebrafish models lacking members of the neurexin gene family, one of the strongest groups of genes associated with psychiatric disorders, according to a statement released Monday by the university.
Despite no obvious changes in brain development or behavior during their early development, the fish developed profound, permanent and highly specific behavioral changes emerging in their juvenile stage, the statement said.
This delayed emergence was one of the central findings of the study and strikingly mimics the human disease trajectories.
"The findings suggest that even highly complex behaviors may arise from deeply conserved biological and genetic programs," Jean Giacomotto, senior lecturer at Griffith University, was quoted as saying.
"We often think of social behavior as being shaped primarily by experience, environment and learning," he said. "Yet changing a single family of genes was enough to profoundly and permanently reshape how these animals interact with others and respond to their environment."
The zebrafish models offer a platform for searching for treatments "capable of preventing, delaying or reversing these changes," Giacomotto said.
The study has been published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry. ■
