Environmental Enrichment Reduces adgrl3.1-Related Anxiety and Attention Deficits but Not Impulsivity (2024)

Abstract

Environmental factors play a role in the development and severity of neuropsychiatric disorders. Externalizing disorders (EDs) are linked to genetic and environmental factors and frequently co-occur with internalizing disorders (ID), such as anxiety. Individuals experiencing both ED/ID are often among the most likely to seek healthcare services, as this co-occurrence is associated with more severe symptomatology and greater functional impairment. Here, we investigate the role of environmental enrichment (EE) on a gene associated with impulsivity and attention deficits in zebrafish, adgrl3.1. Zebrafish were reared in either standard or enriched environments (from 15 days-post fertilization), and attention, impulsivity, and anxiety-related phenotypes were assessed at adult stages (4 months-post fertilization) using the open field test and 5-choice serial reaction time task. EE mitigated anxiety-related behaviors in adgrl3.1 knockouts, normalizing locomotor patterns and decreasing thigmotaxis. Although attention deficits were reduced in adgrl3.1-/- fish reared in EE, impulsive behaviors were not. Together, these findings suggest that while EE can alleviate some externalizing and internalizing phenotypes in zebrafish, impulsivity remains resistant to environmental modification. This study suggests that impulsivity is a stable trait in adgrl3.1-/- fish, but highlights the importance of EE in mitigating some externalizing and internalizing symptoms.