Obesity is a global health problem with high prevalence and defined by a high body mass index (BMI). Several comorbidities affecting the central nervous system (CNS) are associated with obesity (e.g., neurodegenerative diseases, cognitive deficit, and psychobehavioral disturbs). The zebrafish (Danio rerio) has been considered a suitable model organism to investigate the neurobehavioral features of various human diseases. Here, we verify the impact of a high-fat diet (HFD) on the CNS by specifically assessing the effects of short-term HFD on anxiety-like responses, aggression, social preference, and memory, which are essential behaviors for survival and reproduction. Animals were separated in three experimental groups. The standard diet group (SD) received 7.5 mg/fish of dry food, while HFD groups received 5 mg/fish dry food plus 7.5 (HFD-7.5) or 15 mg/fish (HFD-15) of chicken egg yolk daily. Dietary fat content (w/w) was approximately 6.5%, 16.9%, and 21.1%, respectively. We performed behavioral tests and morphometric analyses after two weeks of HFD. In comparison to SD animals, HFD groups showed typical obesogenic responses with increases in BMI, abdominal length, and body weight. HFD individuals also showed increased aggression and anxiety-like behaviors in the mirror-induced aggression and novel tank diving tests, respectively. Interestingly, HFD did not change the social preference behavior, mean swimming speed or spontaneous activity levels, while the HFD-15 group showed cognitive deficits in the inhibitory avoidance test. Collectively, this “proof-of-concept” study is the first report to characterize the effects of short-term HFD on different behavioral domains of zebrafish with high degree of face validity. Moreover, our data reinforce the growing utility of zebrafish to explore the neurobehavioral basis of obesity, providing clinically translatable data, complementing the existing rodent models and supporting future mechanistic studies.

肥胖症是一个全球性的健康问题，发病率很高，由高体重指数 (BMI) 定义。影响中枢神经系统 (CNS) 的几种合并症与肥胖有关（例如，神经退行性疾病、认知缺陷和心理行为障碍）。斑马鱼 ( Danio rerio) 已被认为是研究各种人类疾病的神经行为特征的合适模型生物。在这里，我们通过专门评估短期 HFD 对焦虑样反应、攻击性、社会偏好和记忆的影响来验证高脂饮食 (HFD) 对 CNS 的影响，这些都是生存和繁殖的基本行为. 动物被分成三个实验组。标准饮食组 (SD) 每天接受 7.5 毫克/鱼的干粮，而 HFD 组每天接受 5 毫克/鱼的干粮加上 7.5 (HFD-7.5) 或 15 毫克/鱼 (HFD-15) 的鸡蛋黄。膳食脂肪含量（w/w) 分别约为 6.5%、16.9% 和 21.1%。我们在 HFD 两周后进行了行为测试和形态测量分析。与 SD 动物相比，HFD 组表现出典型的致肥胖反应，伴随着 BMI、腹部长度和体重的增加。HFD 个体在镜子诱发的攻击和新型坦克潜水测试中也分别表现出增加的攻击性和焦虑样行为。有趣的是，HFD 并没有改变社会偏好行为、平均游泳速度或自发活动水平，而 HFD-15 组在抑制性回避测试中表现出认知缺陷。总的来说，这项“概念验证”研究是第一份描述短期 HFD 对斑马鱼不同行为领域影响的报告，具有高度的面部效度。而且，