Understanding How Stress Responses and Stress-Related Behaviors Have Evolved in Zebrafish and Mammals

Stress response is essential for the organism to quickly restore physiological homeostasis disturbed by various environmental insults. In addition to well-established physiological cascades, stress also evokes various brain and behavioral responses. Aquatic animal models, including the zebrafish (Danio rerio), have been extensively used to probe pathobiological mechanisms of stress and stress-related brain disorders. Here, we critically discuss the use of zebrafish models for studying mechanisms of stress and modeling its disorders experimentally, with a particular cross-taxon focus on the potential evolution of stress responses from zebrafish to rodents and humans, as well as its translational implications. © 2021 The AuthorsAVK is supported by the Zebrafish Platform Construction Fund from the Southwest University (Chongqing, China). The collaboration was supported by the Russian Science Foundation (RSF) grant 19-15-00053. KAD is supported by the President of Russia Graduate Fellowship, and the Special Rector's Fellowship for SPSU students. ACVVG is supported by the FAPERGS research fellowship 19/2551-0001-669-7. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript