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Volotsky S, Segev R. Figure-ground segmentation based on motion in the archerfish. Anim Cogn 2024; 27:33. [PMID: 38616235 PMCID: PMC11016505 DOI: 10.1007/s10071-024-01873-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/01/2023] [Revised: 04/01/2024] [Accepted: 04/01/2024] [Indexed: 04/16/2024]
Abstract
Figure-ground segmentation is a fundamental process in visual perception that involves separating visual stimuli into distinct meaningful objects and their surrounding context, thus allowing the brain to interpret and understand complex visual scenes. Mammals exhibit varying figure-ground segmentation capabilities, ranging from primates that can perform well on figure-ground segmentation tasks to rodents that perform poorly. To explore figure-ground segmentation capabilities in teleost fish, we studied how the archerfish, an expert visual hunter, performs figure-ground segmentation. We trained archerfish to discriminate foreground objects from the background, where the figures were defined by motion as well as by discontinuities in intensity and texture. Specifically, the figures were defined by grating, naturalistic texture, and random noise moving in counterphase with the background. The archerfish performed the task well and could distinguish between all three types of figures and grounds. Their performance was comparable to that of primates and outperformed rodents. These findings suggest the existence of a complex visual process in the archerfish visual system that enables the delineation of figures as distinct from backgrounds, and provide insights into object recognition in this animal.
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Affiliation(s)
- Svetlana Volotsky
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beersheba, Israel
- School of Brain Sciences and Cognition, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beersheba, Israel
- Department of Life Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beersheba, Israel
| | - Ronen Segev
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beersheba, Israel.
- School of Brain Sciences and Cognition, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beersheba, Israel.
- Department of Life Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beersheba, Israel.
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Asogwa NC, Toji N, He Z, Shao C, Shibata Y, Tatsumoto S, Ishikawa H, Go Y, Wada K. Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors in a songbird brain. J Comp Neurol 2022; 530:1966-1991. [PMID: 35344610 DOI: 10.1002/cne.25314] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/23/2021] [Revised: 02/21/2022] [Accepted: 02/23/2022] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) are ligand-gated ion channels that mediate fast synaptic transmission and cell signaling, which contribute to learning, memory, and the execution of motor skills. Birdsong is a complex learned motor skill in songbirds. Although the existence of 15 nAChR subunits has been predicted in the avian genome, their expression patterns and potential contributions to song learning and production have not been comprehensively investigated. Here, we cloned all the 15 nAChR subunits (ChrnA1-10, B2-4, D, and G) from the zebra finch brain and investigated the mRNA expression patterns in the neural pathways responsible for the learning and production of birdsong during a critical period of song learning. Although there were no detectable hybridization signals for ChrnA1, A6, A9, and A10, the other 11 nAChR subunits were uniquely expressed in one or more major subdivisions in the song nuclei of the songbird brain. Of these 11 subunits, ChrnA3-5, A7, and B2 were differentially regulated in the song nuclei compared with the surrounding anatomically related regions. ChrnA5 was upregulated during the critical period of song learning in the lateral magnocellular nucleus of the anterior nidopallium. Furthermore, single-cell RNA sequencing revealed ChrnA7 and B2 to be the major subunits expressed in neurons of the vocal motor nuclei HVC and robust nucleus of the arcopallium, indicating the potential existence of ChrnA7-homomeric and ChrnB2-heteromeric nAChRs in limited cell populations. These results suggest that relatively limited types of nAChR subunits provide functional contributions to song learning and production in songbirds.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Noriyuki Toji
- Faculty of Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan
| | - Ziwei He
- Graduate School of Life Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan
| | - Chengru Shao
- Graduate School of Life Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan
| | - Yukino Shibata
- Graduate School of Life Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan
| | - Shoji Tatsumoto
- Cognitive Genomics Research Group, Exploratory Research Center on Life and Living Systems, National Institutes of Natural Sciences, Okazaki, Japan
| | - Hiroe Ishikawa
- Cognitive Genomics Research Group, Exploratory Research Center on Life and Living Systems, National Institutes of Natural Sciences, Okazaki, Japan
| | - Yasuhiro Go
- Cognitive Genomics Research Group, Exploratory Research Center on Life and Living Systems, National Institutes of Natural Sciences, Okazaki, Japan
- School of Life Science, SOKENDAI (The Graduate University for Advanced Studies), Okazaki, Japan
- Department of Physiological Sciences, National Institute for Physiological Sciences, Okazaki, Japan
| | - Kazuhiro Wada
- Graduate School of Life Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan
- Faculty of Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan
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Acerbo MJ, Lazareva OF. Pharmacological manipulation of GABA activity in nucleus subpretectalis/interstitio-pretecto-subpretectalis (SP/IPS) impairs figure-ground discrimination in pigeons: Running head: SP/IPS in figure-ground segregation. Behav Brain Res 2018; 344:1-8. [PMID: 29408282 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2018.01.033] [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] [Received: 08/28/2017] [Revised: 01/09/2018] [Accepted: 01/30/2018] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
Figure-ground segregation is a fundamental visual ability that allows an organism to separate an object from its background. Our earlier research has shown that nucleus rotundus (Rt), a thalamic nucleus processing visual information in pigeons, together with its inhibitory complex, nucleus subpretectalis/interstitio-pretecto-subpretectalis (SP/IPS), are critically involved in figure-ground discrimination (Acerbo et al., 2012; Scully et al., 2014). Here, we further investigated the role of SP/IPS by conducting bilateral microinjections of GABAergic receptor antagonist and agonists (bicuculline and muscimol, respectively) and non-NMDA glutamate receptor antagonist (CNQX) after the pigeons mastered figure-ground discrimination task. We used two doses of each drug (bicuculline: 0.1 mM and 0.05 mM; muscimol: 4.4 mM and 8.8 mM; CNQX: 2.15 mM and 4.6 mM) in a within-subject design, and alternated drug injections with baseline (ACSF). The order of injections was randomized across birds to reduce potential carryover effects. We found that a low dose of bicuculline produced a decrement on figure trials but not on background trials, whereas a high dose impaired performance on background trials but not on figure trials. Muscimol produced an equivalent, dose-dependent impairment on both types of trials. Finally, CNQX had no consistent effect at either dose. Together, these results further confirm our earlier hypothesis that inhibitory projections from SP to Rt modulate figure-ground discrimination, and suggest that the Rt and the SP/IPS provide a plausible substrate that could perform figure-ground segregation in avian brain.
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Belekhova MG, Chudinova TV, Rio JP, Tostivint H, Vesselkin NP, Kenigfest NB. Distribution of calcium-binding proteins in the pigeon visual thalamic centers and related pretectal and mesencephalic nuclei. Phylogenetic and functional determinants. Brain Res 2016; 1631:165-93. [PMID: 26638835 DOI: 10.1016/j.brainres.2015.11.037] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/31/2015] [Revised: 11/19/2015] [Accepted: 11/22/2015] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
Multichannel processing of environmental information constitutes a fundamental basis of functioning of sensory systems in the vertebrate brain. Two distinct parallel visual systems - the tectofugal and thalamofugal exist in all amniotes. The vertebrate central nervous system contains high concentrations of intracellular calcium-binding proteins (CaBPrs) and each of them has a restricted expression pattern in different brain regions and specific neuronal subpopulations. This study aimed at describing the patterns of distribution of parvalbumin (PV) and calbindin (CB) in the visual thalamic and mesencephalic centers of the pigeon (Columba livia). We used a combination of immunohistochemistry and double labeling immunofluorescent technique. Structures studied included the thalamic relay centers involved in the tectofugal (nucleus rotundus, Rot) and thalamofugal (nucleus geniculatus lateralis, pars dorsalis, GLd) visual pathways as well as pretectal, mesencephalic, isthmic and thalamic structures inducing the driver and/or modulatory action to the visual processing. We showed that neither of these proteins was unique to the Rot or GLd. The Rot contained i) numerous PV-immunoreactive (ir) neurons and a dense neuropil, and ii) a few CB-ir neurons mostly located in the anterior dorsal part and associated with a light neuropil. These latter neurons partially overlapped with the former and some of them colocalized both proteins. The distinct subnuclei of the GLd were also characterized by different patterns of distribution of CaBPrs. Some (nucleus dorsolateralis anterior, pars magnocellularis, DLAmc; pars lateralis, DLL; pars rostrolateralis, DLAlr; nucleus lateralis anterior thalami, LA) contained both CB- and PV-ir neurons in different proportions with a predominance of the former in the DLAmc and DLL. The nucleus lateralis dorsalis of nuclei optici principalis thalami only contained PV-ir neurons and a neuropil similar to the interstitial pretectal/thalamic nuclei of the tectothalamic tract, nucleus pretectalis and thalamic reticular nucleus. The overlapping distribution of PV and CB immunoreactivity was typical for the pretectal nucleus lentiformis mesencephali and the nucleus ectomamillaris as well as for the visual isthmic nuclei. The findings are discussed in the light of the contributive role of the phylogenetic and functional factors determining the circuits׳ specificity of the different CaBPr types.
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Affiliation(s)
- Margarita G Belekhova
- Laboratory of Molecular Mechanisms of Neuronal Interactions, Sechenov Institute of Evolutionary Physiology and Biochemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, 44, Thorez Avenue, 194223 Saint-Petersburg, Russia.
| | - Tatiana V Chudinova
- Laboratory of Molecular Mechanisms of Neuronal Interactions, Sechenov Institute of Evolutionary Physiology and Biochemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, 44, Thorez Avenue, 194223 Saint-Petersburg, Russia.
| | - Jean-Paul Rio
- CRICM UPMC/INSERM UMR_S975/CNRS UMR 7225, Hôpital de la Salpêtrière, 47, Bd de l׳Hôpital, 75651 Paris Cedex 13, France.
| | - Hérve Tostivint
- CNRS UMR 7221, MNHN USM 0501, Département Régulations, Développement et Diversité Moléculaire du Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, 7, rue Cuvier, 75005 Paris, France.
| | - Nikolai P Vesselkin
- Laboratory of Molecular Mechanisms of Neuronal Interactions, Sechenov Institute of Evolutionary Physiology and Biochemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, 44, Thorez Avenue, 194223 Saint-Petersburg, Russia; Department of Medicine, The State University of Saint-Petersburg, 7-9, Universitetskaya nab., 199034 St. Petersburg, Russia.
| | - Natalia B Kenigfest
- Laboratory of Molecular Mechanisms of Neuronal Interactions, Sechenov Institute of Evolutionary Physiology and Biochemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, 44, Thorez Avenue, 194223 Saint-Petersburg, Russia; CNRS UMR 7221, MNHN USM 0501, Département Régulations, Développement et Diversité Moléculaire du Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, 7, rue Cuvier, 75005 Paris, France.
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