1
|
Xie J, Goodbourn P, Sztal T, Jusuf PR. Neural Endophenotype Assessment in Zebrafish Larvae Using Optomotor and ZebraBox Locomotion Assessment. Methods Mol Biol 2024; 2746:213-224. [PMID: 38070092 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-0716-3585-8_17] [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] [Indexed: 12/18/2023]
Abstract
Due to the highly conserved genetics across the central nervous system, the easily probed visual system can act as an endophenotype for assessing neurological function. Here, we describe a psychophysics approach to assess visually driven swimming behavior in the high-throughput zebrafish genetic model system. We use the optomotor response test together with general locomotion behavior to assess neural processing while excluding motor defects related to muscle function.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Jiaheng Xie
- School of Biosciences, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, Australia
| | - Patrick Goodbourn
- Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, Australia
| | - Tamar Sztal
- School of Biological Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - Patricia R Jusuf
- School of Biosciences, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, Australia.
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Cai LT, Krishna VS, Hladnik TC, Guilbeault NC, Vijayakumar C, Arunachalam M, Juntti SA, Arrenberg AB, Thiele TR, Cooper EA. Spatiotemporal visual statistics of aquatic environments in the natural habitats of zebrafish. Sci Rep 2023; 13:12028. [PMID: 37491571 PMCID: PMC10368656 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-36099-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/28/2023] [Accepted: 05/29/2023] [Indexed: 07/27/2023] Open
Abstract
Animal sensory systems are tightly adapted to the demands of their environment. In the visual domain, research has shown that many species have circuits and systems that exploit statistical regularities in natural visual signals. The zebrafish is a popular model animal in visual neuroscience, but relatively little quantitative data is available about the visual properties of the aquatic habitats where zebrafish reside, as compared to terrestrial environments. Improving our understanding of the visual demands of the aquatic habitats of zebrafish can enhance the insights about sensory neuroscience yielded by this model system. We analyzed a video dataset of zebrafish habitats captured by a stationary camera and compared this dataset to videos of terrestrial scenes in the same geographic area. Our analysis of the spatiotemporal structure in these videos suggests that zebrafish habitats are characterized by low visual contrast and strong motion when compared to terrestrial environments. Similar to terrestrial environments, zebrafish habitats tended to be dominated by dark contrasts, particularly in the lower visual field. We discuss how these properties of the visual environment can inform the study of zebrafish visual behavior and neural processing and, by extension, can inform our understanding of the vertebrate brain.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Lanya T Cai
- Herbert Wertheim School of Optometry & Vision Science, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Venkatesh S Krishna
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Toronto, Scarborough, ON, Canada
| | - Tim C Hladnik
- Werner Reichardt Centre for Integrative Neuroscience, Institute of Neurobiology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
- Graduate Training Centre for Neuroscience, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Nicholas C Guilbeault
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Toronto, Scarborough, ON, Canada
- Department of Cell and Systems Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
| | - Chinnian Vijayakumar
- Department of Zoology, Department of Zoology, St. Andrew's College, Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, India
| | - Muthukumarasamy Arunachalam
- Department of Zoology, School of Biological Sciences, Central University of Kerala, Kasaragod, Kerala, India
- Centre for Inland Fishes and Conservation, St. Andrew's College, Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, India
| | - Scott A Juntti
- Department of Biology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA
| | - Aristides B Arrenberg
- Werner Reichardt Centre for Integrative Neuroscience, Institute of Neurobiology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Tod R Thiele
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Toronto, Scarborough, ON, Canada.
- Department of Cell and Systems Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.
| | - Emily A Cooper
- Herbert Wertheim School of Optometry & Vision Science, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA.
- Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Holman JG, Lai WWK, Pichler P, Saska D, Lagnado L, Buckley CL. A behavioral and modeling study of control algorithms underlying the translational optomotor response in larval zebrafish with implications for neural circuit function. PLoS Comput Biol 2023; 19:e1010924. [PMID: 36821587 PMCID: PMC9998047 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1010924] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/14/2022] [Revised: 03/09/2023] [Accepted: 02/06/2023] [Indexed: 02/24/2023] Open
Abstract
The optomotor response (OMR) is central to the locomotory behavior in diverse animal species including insects, fish and mammals. Furthermore, the study of the OMR in larval zebrafish has become a key model system for investigating the neural basis of sensorimotor control. However, a comprehensive understanding of the underlying control algorithms is still outstanding. In fish it is often assumed that the OMR, by reducing average optic flow across the retina, serves to stabilize position with respect to the ground. Yet the degree to which this is achieved, and how it could emerge from the intermittent burst dynamics of larval zebrafish swimming, are unclear. Here, we combine detailed computational modeling with a new approach to free-swimming experiments in which we control the amount of visual feedback produced by a given motor effort by varying the height of the larva above a moving grid stimulus. We develop an account of underlying feedback control mechanisms that describes both the bout initiation process and the control of swim speed during bouts. We observe that the degree to which fish stabilize their position is only partial and height-dependent, raising questions about its function. We find the relative speed profile during bouts follows a fixed temporal pattern independent of absolute bout speed, suggesting that bout speed and bout termination are not separately controlled. We also find that the reverse optic flow, experienced when the fish is swimming faster than the stimulus, plays a minimal role in control of the OMR despite carrying most of the sensory information about self-movement. These results shed new light on the underlying dynamics of the OMR in larval zebrafish and will be crucial for future work aimed at identifying the neural basis of this behavior.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- John G. Holman
- School of Engineering and Informatics, University of Sussex, Brighton, United Kingdom
- * E-mail: (JGH); (CLB)
| | - Winnie W. K. Lai
- School of Engineering and Informatics, University of Sussex, Brighton, United Kingdom
| | - Paul Pichler
- Department of Neurobiology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Daniel Saska
- School of Engineering and Informatics, University of Sussex, Brighton, United Kingdom
| | - Leon Lagnado
- School of Life Sciences, University of Sussex, Brighton, United Kingdom
| | - Christopher L. Buckley
- School of Engineering and Informatics, University of Sussex, Brighton, United Kingdom
- * E-mail: (JGH); (CLB)
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Zwaka H, McGinnis OJ, Pflitsch P, Prabha S, Mansinghka V, Engert F, Bolton AD. Visual object detection biases escape trajectories following acoustic startle in larval zebrafish. Curr Biol 2022; 32:5116-5125.e3. [PMID: 36402136 PMCID: PMC10028558 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2022.10.050] [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: 05/11/2022] [Revised: 09/27/2022] [Accepted: 10/21/2022] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
In this study, we investigated whether the larval zebrafish is sensitive to the presence of obstacles in its environment. Zebrafish execute fast escape swims when in danger of predation. We posited that collisions with solid objects during escape would be maladaptive to the fish, and therefore, the direction of escape swims should be informed by the locations of barriers. To test this idea, we developed a closed-loop imaging rig outfitted with barriers of various qualities. We show that when larval zebrafish escape in response to a non-directional vibrational stimulus, they use visual scene information to avoid collisions with obstacles. Our study demonstrates that barrier avoidance rate corresponds to the absolute distance of obstacles, as distant barriers outside of collision range elicit less bias than nearby collidable barriers that occupy the same amount of visual field. The computation of barrier avoidance is covert: the fact that fish will avoid barriers during escape cannot be predicted by its routine swimming behavior in the barrier arena. Finally, two-photon laser ablation experiments suggest that excitatory bias is provided to the Mauthner cell ipsilateral to approached barriers, either via direct excitation or a multi-step modulation process. We ultimately propose that zebrafish detect collidable objects via an integrative visual computation that is more complex than retinal occupancy alone, laying a groundwork for understanding how cognitive physical models observed in humans are implemented in an archetypal vertebrate brain. VIDEO ABSTRACT.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Hanna Zwaka
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
| | - Olivia J McGinnis
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
| | - Paula Pflitsch
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
| | - Srishti Prabha
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
| | - Vikash Mansinghka
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, MIT, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA
| | - Florian Engert
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
| | - Andrew D Bolton
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA; Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, MIT, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Wang K, Arrenberg B, Hinz J, Arrenberg AB. Reduction of visual stimulus artifacts using a spherical tank for small, aquatic animals. Sci Rep 2021; 11:3204. [PMID: 33547357 PMCID: PMC7864920 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-81904-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/01/2020] [Accepted: 01/12/2021] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Delivering appropriate stimuli remains a challenge in vision research, particularly for aquatic animals such as zebrafish. Due to the shape of the water tank and the associated optical paths of light rays, the stimulus can be subject to unwanted refraction or reflection artifacts, which may spoil the experiment and result in wrong conclusions. Here, we employ computer graphics simulations and calcium imaging in the zebrafish optic tectum to show, how a spherical glass container optically outperforms many previously used water containers, including Petri dish lids. We demonstrate that aquatic vision experiments suffering from total internal reflection artifacts at the water surface or at the flat container bottom may result in the erroneous detection of visual neurons with bipartite receptive fields and in the apparent absence of neurons selective for vertical motion. Our results and demonstrations will help aquatic vision neuroscientists on optimizing their stimulation setups.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Kun Wang
- Werner Reichardt Centre for Integrative Neuroscience, Institute for Neurobiology, University of Tübingen, 72076, Tübingen, Germany
- Graduate Training Centre for Neuroscience, University of Tübingen, 72076, Tübingen, Germany
| | | | - Julian Hinz
- Werner Reichardt Centre for Integrative Neuroscience, Institute for Neurobiology, University of Tübingen, 72076, Tübingen, Germany
- Graduate Training Centre for Neuroscience, University of Tübingen, 72076, Tübingen, Germany
- Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, 4058, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Aristides B Arrenberg
- Werner Reichardt Centre for Integrative Neuroscience, Institute for Neurobiology, University of Tübingen, 72076, Tübingen, Germany.
| |
Collapse
|
6
|
Does Brain Lateralization Affect the Performance in Binary Choice Tasks? A Study in the Animal Model Danio rerio. Symmetry (Basel) 2020. [DOI: 10.3390/sym12081294] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Researchers in behavioral neuroscience commonly observe the behavior of animal subjects in the presence of two alternative stimuli. However, this type of binary choice introduces a potential confound related to side biases. Understanding whether subjects exhibit this bias, and the origin of it (pre-existent or acquired throughout the experimental sessions), is particularly important to interpreting the results. Here, we tested the hypothesis according to which brain lateralization may influence the emergence of side biases in a well-known model of neuroscience, the zebrafish. As a measure of lateralization, individuals were observed in their spontaneous tendencies to monitor a potential predator with either the left or the right eye. Subjects also underwent an operant conditioning task requiring discrimination between two colors placed on the left–right axis. Although the low performance exhibited in the operant conditioning task prevents firm conclusions from being drawn, a positive correlation was found between the direction of lateralization and the tendency to select the stimulus presented on one specific side (e.g., right). The choice for this preferred side did not change throughout the experimental sessions, meaning that this side bias was not the result of the prolonged training. Overall, our study calls for a wider investigation of pre-existing lateralization biases in animal models to set up methodological counterstrategies to test individuals that do not properly work in a binary choice task with stimuli arranged on the left–right axis.
Collapse
|