Cognitive deficits represent an urgent biomedical problem, and are commonly reduced by nootropic drugs. Animal models, including both rodents and zebrafish, offer a valuable tool for studying cognitive phenotypes and screening novel nootropics. Beta-alanine and its derivatives have recently been proposed to exert nootropic activity.
Aims:
This study aimed to characterize putative nootropic profile of a novel β-alanine analogue, 1,3-diaminopropane (MB-005), in adult zebrafish.
Methods:
Nootropic profile of MB-005 was assessed in adult zebrafish in the novel tank and conditioned place aversion (CPA) tests acutely, and in cued-learning plus-maze (PMT) tests chronically.
Results/Outcomes:
MB-005 did not alter zebrafish anxiety-like behavior or monoamine neurochemistry acutely, improved short-term memory in the CPA test, but impaired cognitive performance in both CPA and PMT tests chronically.
Conclusions/Interpretation:
This study reveals high sensitivity of zebrafish cognitive phenotypes to MB-005, suggesting it as a potential novel cognitive enhancer acutely, but raises concerns over its cognitive (and, possibly, other) side-effects chronically.
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