Visual Avoidance in Xenopus Tadpoles Is Correlated With the Maturation of Visual Responses in the Optic Tectum
Visual Avoidance in Xenopus Tadpoles Is Correlated With the Maturation of Visual Responses in the Optic Tectum
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DOI：
10.1152/jn.90848.2008
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发表时间：
2009-02-01
影响因子：
2.5
通讯作者：
Aizenman, Carlos D.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Dong, Wei;Lee, Ryan H.;Aizenman, Carlos D.
Dong W，Lee RH，Xu H，Yang S，Pratt KG，Cao V，Song Y-K，Nurmikko A，Aizenman CD.非洲爪蟾蝌蚪的视觉回避与视顶盖中视觉反应的成熟相关。神经生理学杂志101：803-815，2009年。首次发表于2008年12月10日; doi：10.1152/jn.90848.2008。视顶盖是将视觉输入转化为定向行为的中心。然而，目前还不清楚这种行为是如何在发育早期组织起来的，以及它如何与发育中的视觉系统的反应特性相关。我们设计了一种新的行为测试方法来研究非洲爪蟾蝌蚪视觉引导行为的发展。我们发现，在早期发展过程中，视觉回避-一种先天的，顶盖介导的行为-是调整到一个特定的刺激大小，是敏感的对比度的变化。使用在体记录，我们发现，在视觉回避的空间调谐的发展变化反映了顶盖感受野的锐度和阈下视觉反应的时间特性的变化，而对比敏感度的视觉反应的增益的影响。我们还表明，视觉反应特性的长期和短期扰动可预测地改变行为输出。我们的结论是，我们的视觉回避测定是顶盖电路发育状态的有用功能测量。我们使用这种检测来表明，发育中的视觉系统被调整以促进行为输出，并且该系统可以通过神经活动进行调节，使其能够适应在发育过程中遇到的环境变化。
Dong W, Lee RH, Xu H, Yang S, Pratt KG, Cao V, Song Y-K, Nurmikko A, Aizenman CD. Visual avoidance in Xenopus tadpoles is correlated with the maturation of visual responses in the optic tectum. J Neurophysiol 101: 803-815, 2009. First published December 10, 2008; doi: 10.1152/jn.90848.2008. The optic tectum is central for transforming incoming visual input into orienting behavior. Yet it is not well understood how this behavior is organized early in development and how it relates to the response properties of the developing visual system. We designed a novel behavioral assay to study the development of visually guided behavior in Xenopus laevis tadpoles. We found that, during early development, visual avoidance-an innate, tectally mediated behavior-is tuned to a specific stimulus size and is sensitive to changes in contrast. Using in vivo recordings we found that developmental changes in the spatial tuning of visual avoidance are mirrored by changes in tectal receptive field sharpness and the temporal properties of subthreshold visual responses, whereas contrast sensitivity is affected by the gain of the visual response. We also show that long- and short-term perturbations of visual response properties predictably alter behavioral output. We conclude that our assay for visual avoidance is a useful functional measure of the developmental state of the tectal circuitry. We use this assay to show that the developing visual system is tuned to facilitate behavioral output and that the system can be modulated by neural activity, allowing it to adapt to environmental changes it encounters during development.