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Zlenko DV, Olshanskiy VM, Orlov AA, Kasumyan AO, MacMahon E, Wei X, Moller P. Visualization of electric fields and associated behavior in fish and other aquatic animals. Behav Res Methods 2024; 56:4255-4276. [PMID: 37578570 DOI: 10.3758/s13428-023-02175-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 06/12/2023] [Indexed: 08/15/2023]
Abstract
In some fish lineages, evolution has led to unique sensory adaptations that provide information which is not available to terrestrial animals. These sensory systems include, among others, electroreception, which together with the ability of fish to generate electric discharges plays a role in social communication and object location. Most studies on electric phenomena in aquatic animals are dedicated to selected groups of electric fishes that regularly generate electric signals (Mormyriformes, Gymnotiformes). There exist, however, several species (hitherto described as non-electric) which, though able to perceive electric signals, have now been found to also generate them. In this article, we introduce a tool that we have designed to investigate such electric activity. This required significant adaptations of the equipment used in fish with regular discharge generation. The necessary improvements were realized by using a multielectrode registration setup allowing simultaneous visualization and quantification of behavior and associated electric activity of fish, alone or in groups, with combined electro-video clips. Precise synchronization of locomotor and electric behaviors made it possible to determine the electrically active fish in a group, and also the location of the electrogenic structure inside the fish's body. Our simple registration procedure, together with data presentation, should attract a broad audience of scientists taking up the challenge of uncovering electric phenomena in aquatic animals currently treated as electrically inactive.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dmitry V Zlenko
- A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Moscow, Russia.
| | | | - Andrey A Orlov
- A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Moscow, Russia
| | - Alexander O Kasumyan
- A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Moscow, Russia
- M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia
| | | | - Xue Wei
- Harbin Engineering University, Harbin, China
| | - Peter Moller
- Department of Psychology Hunter College, New York, NY, USA
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Yamoah EN, Pavlinkova G, Fritzsch B. The Development of Speaking and Singing in Infants May Play a Role in Genomics and Dementia in Humans. Brain Sci 2023; 13:1190. [PMID: 37626546 PMCID: PMC10452560 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci13081190] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/24/2023] [Revised: 08/04/2023] [Accepted: 08/08/2023] [Indexed: 08/27/2023] Open
Abstract
The development of the central auditory system, including the auditory cortex and other areas involved in processing sound, is shaped by genetic and environmental factors, enabling infants to learn how to speak. Before explaining hearing in humans, a short overview of auditory dysfunction is provided. Environmental factors such as exposure to sound and language can impact the development and function of the auditory system sound processing, including discerning in speech perception, singing, and language processing. Infants can hear before birth, and sound exposure sculpts their developing auditory system structure and functions. Exposing infants to singing and speaking can support their auditory and language development. In aging humans, the hippocampus and auditory nuclear centers are affected by neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's, resulting in memory and auditory processing difficulties. As the disease progresses, overt auditory nuclear center damage occurs, leading to problems in processing auditory information. In conclusion, combined memory and auditory processing difficulties significantly impact people's ability to communicate and engage with their societal essence.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ebenezer N. Yamoah
- Department of Physiology and Cell Biology, School of Medicine, University of Nevada, Reno, NV 89557, USA;
| | | | - Bernd Fritzsch
- Department of Neurological Sciences, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE 68198, USA
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Tatarsky RL, Guo Z, Campbell SC, Kim H, Fang W, Perelmuter JT, Schuppe ER, Conway KW, Reeve HK, Bass AH. Acoustic and postural displays in a miniature and transparent teleost fish, Danionella dracula. J Exp Biol 2022; 225:276185. [PMID: 35916179 DOI: 10.1242/jeb.244585] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2022] [Accepted: 07/26/2022] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
Acoustic behavior is widespread across vertebrates, including among fishes. We report robust acoustic displays during aggressive interactions for a laboratory colony of Danionella dracula, a miniature and transparent species of teleost fish closely related to zebrafish (Danio rerio), which are hypothesized to be sonic based on the presence of a hypertrophied muscle associated with the male swim bladder. Males produce bursts of pulsatile sounds and a distinct postural display-extension of a hypertrophied lower jaw, a morphological trait not present in other Danionella species-during aggressive, but not courtship interactions. Females show no evidence of sound production or jaw extension in such contexts. Novel pairs of size-matched or -mismatched males were combined in resident-intruder assays where sound production and jaw extension could be linked to individuals. In both dyad contexts, resident males produced significantly more sound pulses than intruders. During heightened sonic activity, the majority of highest sound producers also showed increased jaw extension. Residents extended their jaw more than intruders in size-matched, but not -mismatched contexts. Larger males in size-mismatched dyads produced more sounds and jaw extensions compared to their smaller counterparts, and sounds and jaw extensions increased with increasing absolute body size. These studies establish D. dracula as a sonic species that modulates putatively acoustic and postural displays during aggressive interactions based on residency and body size, providing a foundation for further investigating the role of multimodal displays in a new model clade for neurogenomic and neuroimaging studies of aggression, courtship, and other social interactions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rose L Tatarsky
- Cornell University, Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Ithaca, New York, USA
| | - Zilin Guo
- Cornell University, Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Ithaca, New York, USA
| | - Sarah C Campbell
- Cornell University, Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Ithaca, New York, USA
| | - Helena Kim
- Cornell University, Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Ithaca, New York, USA
| | - Wenxuan Fang
- Cornell University, Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Ithaca, New York, USA
| | | | - Eric R Schuppe
- Cornell University, Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Ithaca, New York, USA
| | - Kevin W Conway
- Texas A&M University, Department of Ecology and Conservation Biology and Biodiversity Research and Teaching Collections, College Station, Texas, USA
| | - Hudson K Reeve
- Cornell University, Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Ithaca, New York, USA
| | - Andrew H Bass
- Cornell University, Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Ithaca, New York, USA
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Dunlap KD, Koukos HM, Chagnaud BP, Zakon HH, Bass AH. Vocal and Electric Fish: Revisiting a Comparison of Two Teleost Models in the Neuroethology of Social Behavior. Front Neural Circuits 2021; 15:713105. [PMID: 34489647 PMCID: PMC8418312 DOI: 10.3389/fncir.2021.713105] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/21/2021] [Accepted: 07/12/2021] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
The communication behaviors of vocal fish and electric fish are among the vertebrate social behaviors best understood at the level of neural circuits. Both forms of signaling rely on midbrain inputs to hindbrain pattern generators that activate peripheral effectors (sonic muscles and electrocytes) to produce pulsatile signals that are modulated by frequency/repetition rate, amplitude and call duration. To generate signals that vary by sex, male phenotype, and social context, these circuits are responsive to a wide range of hormones and neuromodulators acting on different timescales at multiple loci. Bass and Zakon (2005) reviewed the behavioral neuroendocrinology of these two teleost groups, comparing how the regulation of their communication systems have both converged and diverged during their parallel evolution. Here, we revisit this comparison and review the complementary developments over the past 16 years. We (a) summarize recent work that expands our knowledge of the neural circuits underlying these two communication systems, (b) review parallel studies on the action of neuromodulators (e.g., serotonin, AVT, melatonin), brain steroidogenesis (via aromatase), and social stimuli on the output of these circuits, (c) highlight recent transcriptomic studies that illustrate how contemporary molecular methods have elucidated the genetic regulation of social behavior in these fish, and (d) describe recent studies of mochokid catfish, which use both vocal and electric communication, and that use both vocal and electric communication and consider how these two systems are spliced together in the same species. Finally, we offer avenues for future research to further probe how similarities and differences between these two communication systems emerge over ontogeny and evolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kent D Dunlap
- Department of Biology, Trinity College, Hartford, CT, United States
| | - Haley M Koukos
- Department of Biology, Trinity College, Hartford, CT, United States
| | - Boris P Chagnaud
- Institute of Biology, Karl-Franzens-University Graz, Graz, Austria
| | - Harold H Zakon
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, United States.,Department of Integrative Biology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, United States
| | - Andrew H Bass
- Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, United States
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Kéver L, Parmentier E, Bass AH, Chagnaud BP. Morphological diversity of acoustic and electric communication systems of mochokid catfish. J Comp Neurol 2020; 529:1787-1809. [PMID: 33070328 PMCID: PMC8048963 DOI: 10.1002/cne.25057] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/17/2020] [Revised: 10/13/2020] [Accepted: 10/13/2020] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
Mochokid catfish offer a distinct opportunity to study a communication system transitioning to a new signaling channel because some produce sounds and others electric discharges. Both signals are generated using an elastic spring system (ESS), which includes a protractor muscle innervated by motoneurons within the protractor nucleus that also has a motoneuron afferent population. Synodontis grandiops and S. nigriventris produce sounds and electric discharges, respectively, and their ESSs show several morphological and physiological differences. The extent to which these differences explain different signal types remains unclear. Here, we compare ESS morphologies and behavioral phenotypes among five mochokids. S. grandiops and S. nigriventris were compared with Synodontis eupterus that is known to produce both signal types, and representative members of two sister genera, Microsynodontis cf. batesii and Mochokiella paynei, for which no data were available. We provide support for the hypothesis that peripheral and central components of the ESS are conserved among mochokids. We also show that the two nonsynodontids are only sonic, consistent with sound production being an ancestral character for mochokids. Even though the three sound producing‐only species differ in some ESS characters, several are similar and likely associated with only sound production. We propose that the ability of S. eupterus to generate both electric discharges and sounds may depend on a protractor muscle intermediate in morphology between sound producing‐only and electric discharge‐only species, and two separate populations of protractor motoneurons. Our results further suggest that an electrogenic ESS in synodontids is an exaptation of a sound producing ESS.
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Affiliation(s)
- Loïc Kéver
- Laboratoire de Morphologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive, Université de Liège, Liège, Belgium
| | - Eric Parmentier
- Laboratoire de Morphologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive, Université de Liège, Liège, Belgium
| | - Andrew H Bass
- Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA
| | - Boris P Chagnaud
- Institute for Biology, Karl-Franzens University Graz, Graz, Austria
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