Contextual Fear Conditioning in Zebrafish

Zebrafish are a genetically tractable vertebrate that hold considerable promise for elucidating the molecular basis of behavior. Although numerous recent advances have been made in the ability to precisely manipulate the zebrafish genome, much less is known about many aspects learning and memory in adult fish. Here, we develop a contextual fear conditioning paradigm using an electric shock as the aversive stimulus. We find that contextual fear conditioning is modulated by shock intensity, prevented by inhibition of (N-methyl-D-aspartate) NMDA receptors, lasts at least 14 days, and exhibits extinction. Furthermore, fish of various background strains (AB, Tu, and TL) are able to acquire fear c