NC3Rs: National Centre for the Replacement Refinement & Reduction of Animals in Research
Project grant

The detection, assessment and alleviation of pain in laboratory zebrafish

Zebrafish in multiple tanks

At a glance

Completed
Award date
November 2012 - April 2016
Grant amount
£445,398
Principal investigator
Dr Lynne Sneddon

Co-investigator(s)

Institute
University of Liverpool

R

  • Refinement
Read the abstract
View the grant profile on GtR

Contents

Overview

This award aims to refine the use of zebrafish in laboratory research by identifying non-invasive markers of pain.

Laboratory research is increasingly using zebrafish as a model organism in studies of human development, disease and in drug discovery programmes. When using animals in research it is essential to be able to evaluate whether an animal is suffering in order to alleviate that suffering, such as administering analgesia. Zebrafish routinely undergo procedures which would cause pain in mammals but little is known on the effectiveness of providing pain relief to fish. Dr Lynne Sneddon and colleagues will identify behavioural and physiological indicators of pain and use these to inform on the type of pain relief, doses and administration to zebrafish. Monitoring zebrafish welfare can be challenging due to the number of fish within a tank so Lynne and colleagues will use the indicators to develop an automated monitoring tool. To demonstrate the tool’s utility, Lynne will analyse behaviour of zebrafish that have undergone procedures to undisturbed and sham treated fish and compare results against physiological measures of stress (ventilation rate and water cortisol levels).

Impacts

Publications

  1. Deakin AG et al. (2019). Automated monitoring of behaviour in zebrafish after invasive procedures. Scientific Reports 9(1):9042. doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-45464-w
  2. Deakin A et al. (2019). Welfare Challenges Influence the Complexity of Movement: Fractal Analysis of Behaviour in Zebrafish. Fishes 4(1):8. doi: 10.3390/fishes4010008
  3. Thomson JS et al. (2019) Assessment of behaviour in groups of zebrafish (Danio rerio) using an intelligent software monitoring tool, the chromatic fish analyser. Journal of Neuroscience Methods 328:108433. doi: 10.1016/j.jneumeth.2019.108433
  4. Deakin AG et al. (2019). Welfare challenges influence the complexity of movement: Fractal analysis of behaviour in zebrafish. Fishes 4(1):8. doi: 10.3390/fishes4010008
  5. Sneddon LU (2018). Comparative Physiology of Nociception and Pain. Physiology (Bethesda) 33(1):63-73. doi: 10.1152/physiol.00022.2017
  6. Sneddon LU (2018). Editorial: Where to draw the line? Should the age of protection for zebrafish be lowered? ATLA 46(6):309-311. doi: 10.1177/026119291804600605
  7. Lopez-Luna J et al. (2017). Impact of stress, fear and anxiety on the nociceptive responses of larval zebrafish. PLoS ONE 12(8):e0181010. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0181010
  8. Lopez-Luna J et al. (2017). Reduction in activity by noxious chemical stimulation is ameliorated by immersion in analgesic drugs in zebrafish. Journal of Experimental Biology 220(17):3192-3194. doi: 10.1242/jeb.146969
  9. Pounder KC et al. (2017). Physiological and behavioural evaluation of common anaesthesia practices in the rainbow trout. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 199:94-102. doi: 10.1016/j.applanim.2017.10.014
  10. Sneddon LU et al. (2017). Considering aspects of the 3Rs principles within experimental animal biology. Journal of Experimental Biology 220(17):3007-3016. doi: 10.1242/jeb.147058
  11. Sneddon LU (2017). Pain in laboratory animals: A possible confounding factor? ATLA 45(3):161-164. doi: 10.1177/026119291704500309
  12. Osborne N et al. (2016). Report of a Meeting on Contemporary Topics in Zebrafish Husbandry and Care. Zebrafish 13(6):584-589. doi: 10.1089/zeb.2016.1324
  13. Pounder KC et al. (2016). Does environmental enrichment promote recovery from stress in rainbow trout? Applied Animal Behaviour Science 176:136-142. doi: 10.1016/j.applanim.2016.01.009
  14. Sneddon LU (2015). Pain in aquatic animals. Journal of Experimental Biology 218(Pt 7):967-976. doi: 10.1242/jeb.088823 
  15. Schroeder P et al. (2014). What do zebrafish want? Impact of social grouping, dominance and gender on preference for enrichment. Laboratory Animals 48(4):328-37. doi: 10.1177/0023677214538239 
  16. Sneddon LU et al. (2014). Defining and assessing animal pain. Animal Behaviour 97:201-212. doi: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2014.09.007