Electrophysiology suite to characterize visual function in fishes

这项提案要求支持电生理学套件，以测量鱼的视觉能力。长期以来的研究试图通过比较生活在不同环境中的鱼类，或通过测试不同背景/刺激下的视觉系统效率来了解鱼类视觉的进化。在这里，我们将重点放在通过斑马鱼的基因敲除、错误表达和转基因改变视网膜特征来测试有关特征适应价值的假设。这里要求的电生理设备是一套定制设计的记录设备，带有用于传递光刺激的光学工作台。由于鱼类能够在视觉上辨别包含紫外线和偏振光的可视目标，因此重点放在设计光学装置上，以使紫外线输出最大化。因此，光学工作台包括高瓦数的灯和设备，以控制刺激的波长、持续时间、校准和传输。电生理设备包括法拉第笼子、放大器和将电极放置在幼鱼眼睛表面的设备。软件将被定制，以控制刺激传递和整合数据采集。该设备使我们能够将发育机制/形态的数据与视觉敏感度的记录相结合。这些设备将用于调查：

This proposal requests support for an electrophysiology suite to measure the visual abilities of fish. A long history of research has attempted to understand the evolution of fish vision by comparing fish that live in different environments, or by testing visual system efficiencies with varied backgrounds/stimuli. Here we focus instead on testing hypotheses regarding the adaptive value of characters by altering retinal features through gene knockdown, mis-expression and transgenesis in zebrafish. The electrophysiology equipment requested here is a custom designed suite of recording equipment with an optical bench for delivery of photic stimuli. Because fish are able to visually discriminate visual targets containing ultraviolet and polarized light, emphasis has been placed on designing optics to maximize UV output. The optical bench thus includes high-wattage lamps and equipment to control the wavelength, duration, calibration and transmission of stimuli. Electrophysiological equipment includes a Faraday cage, amplifiers and equipment to place electrodes on the surface of the eye of larval fish. Software will be customized to control stimulus delivery and integrate data-acquisition. The equipment allows us to integrate data of developmental mechanisms/morphology with recordings of visual sensitivity. The equipment will be used to investigate: