Early life experiences are often linked to changes in cognitive and behavioral aspects in humans (Pechtel & Pizzagalli, 2011). In animal models, early life stress (ELS) is shown to directly cause long-term changes in several brain functions (Molet, Maras,
5Early-life stress (ELS) is defined as a short or chronic period of trauma, environmental or 3 6 social deprivation, which can affect different neurochemical and behavioral patterns during 3 7 adulthood. Zebrafish (Danio rerio) have been widely used as a model system to understand human 3 8 neurodevelopmental disorders and display translationally relevant behavioral and stress-regulating 3 9systems. In this study, we aimed to investigate the effects of moderate ELS by exposing young 4 0 animals (six weeks post-fertilization), for three consecutive days, to three stressors, and analyzing 4 1 the impact of this on adult zebrafish behavior (sixteen weeks post-fertilization). The ELS impact in 4 2 adults was assessed though analysis of performance on tests of unconditioned memory (free 4 3 movement pattern Y-maze test), exploratory and anxiety-related task (novel tank diving test) and 4 4 social cohesion (shoaling test). Here, we show for the first time that moderate ELS increases the 4 5 number of pure alternations compared to pure repetitions in the unconditioned Y-maze task, 4 6suggesting increased spatial short-term memory, but has no effect on shoal cohesion, locomotor 4 7 profile or anxiety-like behavior. Overall, our data suggest that moderate ELS may be linked to 4 8 adaptive flexibility which contributes to build 'resilience' in adult zebrafish by improving short-4 9 term spatial memory performance. 5 0 5 1
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