Left-right asymmetry is required for the habenulae to respond to both visual and olfactory stimuli.

ABSTRACT: Left-right asymmetries are most likely a universal feature of bilaterian nervous systems and may serve to increase neural capacity by specializing equivalent structures on left and right sides for distinct roles. However, little is known about how asymmetries are encoded within vertebrate neural circuits and how lateralization influences processing of information in the brain. Consequently, it remains unclear the extent to which lateralization of the nervous system is important for normal cognitive and other brain functions and whether defects in lateralization contribute to neurological deficits. Here we show that sensory responses to light and odor are lateralized in larval zebrafish habenulae and that loss of brain asymmetry leads to concomitant loss of responsiveness to either visual o

SUBMITTER: Dreosti E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3969106 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature