The Effects of Embryonic Lead Exposure on Avoidance Learning in Male Zebrafish

Lead is widely known to be harmful to humans. In fact, a relationship between early lead exposure and neurobehavioral deficits, including slower reaction times, hyperactivity, and increased inattentive behavior, has been demonstrated by past research. The zebrafish has become a useful model for studying the effects of environmental toxins because of the ease with which zebrafish can be bred and taken care of. The current study utilized an active avoidance conditioning paradigm to explore the neurobehavioral effects of lead exposure on twelve-month-old male zebrafish that were exposed to lead as embryos. As adults, zebrafish were placed in a shuttlebox separated into two compartments with a manually raised divider. On Experimental Day 1, they were trained to associate a light with an electrical shock and to avoid the shock by swimming from the lighted side of the shuttlebox, under the divider, to the dark side. Testing for avoidance learning occurred on Experimental Day 3