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Methods to Investigate Seizures and Associated Cognitive Decline Using Zebrafish Model

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Book cover Experimental and Translational Methods to Screen Drugs Effective Against Seizures and Epilepsy

Part of the book series: Neuromethods ((NM,volume 167))

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Abstract

Epileptic seizures are the manifestation of several signs and/or symptoms due to heightened brain activity, causing a variety of disturbances such as motor and cognition dysfunction. In contrast, epilepsy is characterized by a chronic tendency to spawn these epileptic seizures. One way of studying epilepsy or seizures is to induce either acute seizures or epilepsy in animals via chemoconvulsants such as pentylenetetrazol (acute seizures) or kainic acid (chronic seizures), though pentylenetetrazol can also produce chronic seizures via kindling. Zebrafish are of great utility as an animal model as they have a high breeding rate and are genetically similar to humans. By intraperitoneally injecting chemoconvulsants into zebrafish, they develop seizure-like behavior, which can be scored to determine severity. By recording this behavior, the resulting locomotion pattern and parameters can also be tracked via software analysis. To investigate the cognitive decline comorbidity of epileptic seizures, mazes such as the T-maze and three-axis maze can be used to evaluate the learning and memory ability of the zebrafish via operant conditioning. This is done by comparing and contrasting the time taken for a zebrafish to reach the location of a reward over successive trials.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Neuropharmacology Research Strength, Jeffrey Cheah School of Medicine & Health Sciences, Monash University Malaysia, Bandar Sunway, Selangor, Malaysia

    Brandon Kar Meng Choo & Mohd. Farooq Shaikh

Authors
  1. Brandon Kar Meng Choo
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  2. Mohd. Farooq Shaikh
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mohd. Farooq Shaikh .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Neurobehavioral Pharmacology Laboratory, Department of Pharmacology, School of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (SPER), Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi, India

    Divya Vohora

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Choo, B.K.M., Shaikh, M.F. (2021). Methods to Investigate Seizures and Associated Cognitive Decline Using Zebrafish Model. In: Vohora, D. (eds) Experimental and Translational Methods to Screen Drugs Effective Against Seizures and Epilepsy. Neuromethods, vol 167. Humana, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-1254-5_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-1254-5_12

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  • Publisher Name: Humana, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-0716-1253-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-0716-1254-5

  • eBook Packages: Springer Protocols

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