IFIBYNE   05513
INSTITUTO DE FISIOLOGIA, BIOLOGIA MOLECULAR Y NEUROCIENCIAS
Unidad Ejecutora - UE
artículos
Título:
Identification of Individual Neurons Reflecting Short- and Long-Term Visual Memory in an Arthropod
Autor/es:
MARTIN BERÓN DE ASTRADA, BENGOCHEA M, SZTARKER J, DELORENZI Y TOMSIC D
Revista:
CURRENT BIOLOGY
Editorial:
CELL PRESS
Referencias:
Lugar: United States; Año: 2013 vol. 23 p. 8539 - 8546
ISSN:
0960-9822
Resumen:
Background: Due to the complexity and
variability of natural environments, the ability to adaptively modify behavior
is of fundamental biological importance. Motion vision provides essential cues
for guiding critical behaviors such as prey, predator or mate detection.
However, when confronted with the repeated sight of a moving object that turns
out to be irrelevant, most animals will learn to ignore it. The neural
mechanisms by which moving objects can be ignored are unknown. Although many
arthropods exhibit behavioral adaptation to repetitive moving objects, the
underlying neural mechanisms have been difficult to study, due to the
difficulty of recording activity from the small columnar neurons in peripheral
motion detection circuits.
Results: We developed an experimental
approach in an arthropod to record the calcium responses of visual neurons in vivo. We show that peripheral
columnar neurons that convey visual information into the second optic neuropil
persist in responding to the repeated presentation of an innocuous moving
object. However, activity in the columnar neurons that convey the visual
information from the second to the third optic neuropil is suppressed during
high frequency stimulus repetitions. In accordance with the animal?s behavioral
changes, the suppression of neural activity is fast but short lasting and
restricted to the retina's trained area.
Conclusions: Columnar neurons from the second
optic neuropil are likely the main plastic locus responsible for the
modifications in animal behavior when confronted with rapidly repeated object
motion. Our results demonstrate that visually guided behaviors can be
determined by neural plasticity that occurs surprisingly early in the visual
pathway.