Behaviorally Related Neural Plasticity in the Arthropod Optic Lobesmory in an Arthropod

MARTIN BERÓN DE ASTRADA, BENGOCHEA M, SZTARKER J, DELORENZI Y TOMSIC D

CURRENT BIOLOGY

CELL PRESS

Lugar: United States; Año: 2013 vol. 23 p. 8539 - 8546

0960-9822

Background: Due to the complexity and variability of naturalenvironments, the ability to adaptively modify behavior is offundamental biological importance. Motion vision providesessential cues for guiding critical behaviors such as prey,predator, or mate detection. However, when confronted withthe repeated sight of a moving object that turns out to be irrelevant,most animals will learn to ignore it. The neural mechanismsby which moving objects can be ignored are unknown.Although many arthropods exhibit behavioral adaptation to repetitivemoving objects, the underlying neural mechanismshave been difficult to study, due to the difficulty of recordingactivity from the small columnar neurons in peripheral motiondetection circuits.Results: We developed an experimental approach in anarthropod to record the calcium responses of visual neuronsin vivo. We show that peripheral columnar neurons that conveyvisual information into the second optic neuropil persist inresponding to the repeated presentation of an innocuousmoving object. However, activity in the columnar neuronsthat convey the visual information from the second to the thirdoptic neuropil is suppressed during high-frequency stimulusrepetitions. In accordance with the animal?s behavioralchanges, the suppression of neural activity is fast but shortlasting and restricted to the retina?s trained area.Conclusions: Columnar neurons from the second optic neuropilare likely the main plastic locus responsible for the modificationsin animal behavior when confronted with rapidlyrepeated object motion. Our results demonstrate that visuallyguided behaviors can be determined by neural plasticity