Zebrafish react differently to alcohol when shoalmates are close by


New findings published by researchers at the New York University Polytechnic School of Engineering are helping to unravel the complex interplay between alcohol and social behavior and may lead to new therapies for mitigating the negative impacts of alcohol use and abuse. Their experiments, published in the current issue of Alcohol: Clinical and Experimental Research, center not on patrons at a local happy hour, but on far simpler creatures: zebrafish.

A team led by Maurizio Porfiri, associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering and director of the school's Dynamical Systems Laboratory, overturned the traditional experimental paradigm for alcohol-related studies, in which all subjects are exposed and their behavior and movements analyzed.

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