Exposure to light prior to hatching induces asymmetry of receptor binding in specific regions of the chick forebrain

Spontaneous and light-induced lateralization of immediate early genes expression in domestic chicks

Exposure of domestic chicks' eggs to light during embryo incubation stimulates asymmetrically the two eye-systems, reaching selectively the right eye (left hemisphere) and inducing asymmetries at the behavioral and neural level. Surprisingly, though, some types of lateralization have been observed also in dark incubated chicks, especially at the behavioral level. Here we investigate the mechanisms subtending the development of lateralization, in the presence and in the absence of embryonic light exposure. We measured the baseline level of expression for the immediate early gene product c-Fos, used as an indicator of the spontaneous level of neural activity and plasticity in four areas of the two hemispheres (preoptic area, septum, hippocampus and intermediate medial mesopallium). Additional DAPI staining measured overall cell density (regardless of c-Fos expression), ruling out any confound due to underlying asymmetries in cell density between the hemispheres. In different brain areas, c-Fos expression was lateralized either in light- (septum) or in dark-incubated chicks (preoptic area). Light exposure increased c-Fos expression in the left hemisphere, suggesting that c-Fos expression could participate to the known effects of light stimulation on brain asymmetries. Interestingly, this effect was visible few days after the end of the light exposure, revealing a delayed effect of light exposure on c-Fos baseline expression in brain areas outside the visual pathways. In the preoptic area of dark incubated chicks, we found a rightward bias for c-Fos expression, revealing that lateralization of the baseline level of activity and plasticity is present in the developing brain also in the absence of light exposure.

Light exposure during incubation and social and vigilance behaviour of domestic chicks

Light exposure of chick eggs during a sensitive period at the end of the incubation period leads to the development of lateralised visual behaviour, and here we show that social behaviour is also influenced by this exposure. Groups of eight chicks of three types-(1) all incubated in the dark (Da), (2) all exposed to light (Li), (3) half Da and half Li (Mixed)-were tested on a range of tasks involving social competition and vigilance for a simulated predator. We confirmed a previous finding that lowest-ranking chicks in Li groups gained less access to a food bowl when they had to compete with group members than did the lowest-ranking chicks in the Da groups, and we extended this result to show that the Mixed groups performed like the Li groups. We also showed that before presentation of a novel stimulus resembling a predator, fewer of the chicks in the Da groups than in the Li and Mixed groups looked up, but during presentation of the predator more Da than Li chicks looked up. Hence, light exposure before hatching affects post-hatching social and vigilance behaviour.

A comparison of protocols for passive and discriminative avoidance learning tasks in the domestic chick

A one-trial learning task, where chicks learn that a bead of a particular shape and/or colour has a bitter taste (because it has been coated in 100% methyl anthranilate, MeA) and subsequently avoids it on test, has been widely used by research groups across the world. However, there are some differences in the results reported by different research laboratories. One important difference is found when chicks are trained with a diluted bitter taste on the bead (10 or 20% MeA); memory is not consolidated and fades, lasting for different times. At Monash and La Trobe Universities, memory lasts for 30 min but at the Open University (OU), memory lasts for 4-6h before fading. Differences in protocol that may explain this apparent discrepancy are whether the chicks have seen the bead before (novelty) and whether the colour or the shape of the bead is an important feature. In this review, we discuss these and other factors that may contribute to the differences in the characteristics of memory processing at Monash and at the OU, such as chick strain, hatchery or laboratory incubated chicks, age at training. It is clear that there is a difference between passive avoidance and discriminative avoidance protocols and this may explain the differences in duration of the memory with weakly reinforced learning. Is the OU task a more salient experience because of the novelty of the bead and therefore a 'stronger' learning experience? The different protocols may allow different questions to be addressed.

Light experience and the development of behavioural lateralization in chicks

Chicks searching for food grains against a background of unfamiliar pebbles usually peck pebbles less when using the right eye (RE), or both eyes, than when using the left eye (LE), provided that the embryo's RE has been exposed to light (Li), as is normal. When pecking is fast this right/left difference is mainly due to a heightened ability of RE chicks to inhibit premature pecks (and inappropriate responses in general). Dark incubation (Da) abolishes this ability in RE chicks, and RE and LE chicks show similar frequent pebble pecks. We show now that, under conditions that cause cautious pecking, both Li and Da chicks show a new effect: in both cases LE chicks peck pebbles more than RE chicks, probably because of the novelty of pebbles. Interest in novelty in LE chicks is known to be unaffected by light in incubation. Age-dependent effects are also important. RE and LE chicks, which had either the LE or RE exposed to light before hatching, were tested on days 3, 5, 8 or 12 post-hatching, under conditions giving normal fast pecking. Artificial exposure of the embryo's LE to light reversed the lateralization: in general, chicks using the light-exposed eye performed well at all ages. Irrespective of which eye system had heightened ability to inhibit pebble pecks, RE performance differed from usual on 2 days, whereas LE chicks showed no age-dependent changes. Changes confined to the RE system, therefore, affect behaviour independently of lateralization of the ability to inhibit inappropriate response.

“Let There be Light!” pigeon eggs are regularly exposed to light during breeding

Light stimulation before hatching initiates the emergence of avian visual lateralisation. Since several studies show that birds benefit from being lateralised, we can conjecture that their clutch is being exposed to light during breeding. We tested this assumption in pigeons with a semi-natural setup where the animals were systematically recorded using a movement detection system throughout their breeding period. The results show that pigeon pairs perform their relieves in a regular way by abandoning their clutch for a mean of about 55 s at approximately every 43 min. Thus, the developing visual pathways are repetitively stimulated by light for cumulatively over 3h before the breeding period ends. It becomes apparent that both the duration as well as the repetitions of light stimulation play a crucial role in the onset of visual asymmetry.

Light experience induces differential asymmetry pattern of GABA- and parvalbumin-positive cells in the pigeon's visual midbrain

The formation of functional and morphological asymmetries within the pigeon's tectofugal system depends on left-right differences in visual input during embryonic development. This asymmetric stimulation presumably affects activity-dependent differentiation processes within the optic tectum. Behavioral studies reveal that prehatch light stimulation asymmetry influences both left- and right-hemispheric processes in a differential way. Thus, we have to assume divergent effects on both hemispheres. This study represents an attempt to test the hypothesis that embryonic light asymmetry induces different, cell-type-specific effects in the left and the right optic midbrain. Since it is likely that inhibitory interneurons play a critical role in the establishment of asymmetries, we examined in both sides of the brain the soma sizes of GABA- and parvalbumin- (PV) immunoreactive (ir) cells of the tectum and the magnocellular isthmic nucleus in controls and in dark-incubated animals. No cell size asymmetries of magnocellular isthmic neurons were found in either dark-incubated or control birds. Dark-incubation also prevented the establishment of lateralized differences in GABAergic and PV-positive tectal cells. However, in control birds GABAergic cells displayed larger somata in the left tectum, whereas PV-ir neurons were enlarged within the right tectum. This complementary asymmetry pattern suggests that PV- and GABA-ir tectal cells represent different cellular populations which react differently to visual input. Thus, our data show that visual lateralization does not result from a mere growth promoting effect that enhances differentiation within the behaviorally dominant left side, but is constituted by different cell type-specific circuits which are divergently adjusted in the left and in the right tectum.

Effects of nitric oxide inhibition on avoidance learning in the chick are lateralized and localized

Bilateral administration of nitric oxide synthase inhibitors into the intermediate medial hyperstriatal (IMHV) region of the chick brain impairs memory formation for an avoidance task. The aim of the current study was to determine whether this effect was restricted to a particular location in the brain, and whether inhibition was equally effective in both hemispheres. White Leghorn x black Australorp chicks were administered 0.5 mM N(omega)-Nitro-L-arginine methyl ester bilaterally into the lobus parolfactorius (LPO), or unilaterally into the IMHV. Injections into the LPO between 5 min pre-training and 40 min post-training had no effect on retention. In contrast, unilateral injections into the IMHV impaired retention and memory loss occurred from 40 min post-training. The effective administration time was hemisphere-dependent, requiring left hemisphere administration around the time of training and right hemisphere administration between 15 and 25 min post-training. These data suggest that localized nitric oxide activity in each hemisphere of the chick brain is necessary for the consolidation of memory for this task.

Light-dependent development of asymmetry in the ipsilateral and contralateral thalamofugal visual projections of the chick

Light-exposure of the chick embryo induces development of asymmetry in the thalamofugal visual projections to the Wulst regions of the forebrain since the embryo is turned so that it occludes its left and not its right eye. This asymmetry can be reversed by occluding the embryo's right eye and exposing its left eye to light. Here we show that three sub-regions of the thalamus (two in the dorsolateral anterior thalami (DLA) and one more caudal) have differing asymmetries of contralateral and/or ipsilateral projections. Hence the effect of asymmetrical light stimulation is regionally specific within the thalamus. Lateralised light stimulation appears to promote the development of ipsilateral projections from DLA pars dorsolateralis pars anterioris and contralateral projections from the caudal regions (the nucleus superficialis parvocellularis especially) but it may suppress the development of contralateral projections from the nucleus dorsolateralis anterior thalami pars lateralis rostralis. We also show that the light stimulation causes lateralised expression of c-fos and receptors for neurotransmitters.

The influence of non-ionic radiation on the chicken hatching

The study considers the influence of non-ionic radiation (white and monochromatic light) on the hatching of the Hampshire breed chickens. The chicken embryos were most sensitive to the white light (El), reaching the hatching time of 503.63 +/- 3.17 h, the hatchability of 95.12 +/- 3.72% and an average weight of incubated chickens 46.83 +/- 2.82 g. Of the monochromatic lights, the chicken embryos were most sensitive to yellow and green lights (E5, E4) with the hatching time of 505.22 +/- 4.03 and 507.14 +/- 3.95 h, respectively, the hatchability of 94.89 +/- 3.02 and 94.47 +/- 2.93%, respectively and the average weight of incubated chickens 45.72 +/- 1.93 and 45.05 +/- 2.66 g, respectively. The least reaction of chicken was observed with violet light (E2) with the hatching time of 510.04+/- 1.97 h, hatchability of 90.81 +/- 4.05% and the average weight of incubated chickens 42.02 +/- 3.72 g. The effect of violet light brings the same results as we observed in the case of hatching in darkness (control group C), when the hatching time was 510.41 +/- 2.82 h, hatchability 90.42 +/- 3.35% and average weight of incubated chickens 41.98 +/- 3.05 g.

Possible evolutionary origins of cognitive brain lateralization

Despite the substantial literature on the functional architecture of the asymmetries of the human brain, which has been accumulating for more than 130 years since Dax and Broca's early reports, the biological foundations of cerebral asymmetries are still poorly understood. Recent advances in comparative cognitive neurosciences have made available new animal models that have started to provide unexpected insights into the evolutionary origins and neuronal mechanisms of cerebral asymmetries. Animal model-systems, particularly those provided by the avian brain, highlight the interrelations of genetic, hormonal and environmental events to produce neural and behavioural asymmetries. Novel evidences showing that functional and structural lateralization of the brain is widespread among vertebrates (including fish, reptiles and amphibians) have accumulated rapidly. Perceptual asymmetries, in particular, seem to be ubiquitous in everyday behaviour of most species of animals with laterally placed eyes; in organisms with wider binocular overlap (e.g., amphibians), they appear to be retained for initial detection of stimuli in the extreme lateral fields. We speculate that adjustment of head position and eye movements may play a similar role in mammals with frontal vision as does the choice for right or left lateral visual fields in animals with laterally placed eyes. A first attempt to trace back the origins of brain asymmetry to early vertebrates is presented, based on the hypothesis that functional incompatibility between the logical demands associated with very basic cognitive functions is central to the phenomenon of cerebral lateralization.