Neural Circuits Underlying Visually Evoked Escapes in Larval Zebrafish.

ABSTRACT: Escape behaviors deliver organisms away from imminent catastrophe. Here, we characterize behavioral responses of freely swimming larval zebrafish to looming visual stimuli simulating predators. We report that the visual system alone can recruit lateralized, rapid escape motor programs, similar to those elicited by mechanosensory modalities. Two-photon calcium imaging of retino-recipient midbrain regions isolated the optic tectum as an important center processing looming stimuli, with ensemble activity encoding the critical image size determining escape latency. Furthermore, we describe activity in retinal ganglion cell terminals and superficial inhibitory interneurons in the tectum during looming and propose a model for how temporal dynamics in tectal periventricular neurons might arise fr

SUBMITTER: Dunn TW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4742414 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature