Cerebellar Purkinje Cells Control Posture in Larval Zebrafish (<i>Danio rerio</i>).

ABSTRACT: Cerebellar dysfunction leads to postural instability. Recent work in freely moving rodents has transformed investigations of cerebellar contributions to posture. However, the combined complexity of terrestrial locomotion and the rodent cerebellum motivate new approaches to perturb cerebellar function in simpler vertebrates. Here, we adapted a validated chemogenetic tool (TRPV1/capsaicin) to describe the role of Purkinje cells - the output neurons of the cerebellar cortex - as larval zebrafish swam freely in depth. We achieved both bidirectional control (activation and ablation) of Purkinje cells while performing quantitative high-throughput assessment of posture and locomotion. Activation modified postural control in the pitch (nose-up/nose-down) axis. Similarly, ablations disrupted pitch-

SUBMITTER: Auer F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10515840 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature