Sustained Rhythmic Brain Activity Underlies Visual Motion Perception in Zebrafish

VERÓNICA PÉREZ SCHUSTER; SEBASTIÁN A. ROMANO; MARIO DIPOPPA; VIRGINIE CANDAT; GERMÁN SUMBRE; ANIRUDH KULKARNI; MORGANE NOUVIAN; KONSTANTINOS LYGDAS; ADRIEN JOUARY; THOMAS PIETRI; MATHIEU HAUDRECHY; JONATHAN BOULANGER-WEILL; VINCENT HAKIM

Cells Reports

Cell Press

Año: 2016 vol. 17 p. 1098 - 1112

2211-1247

Following moving visual stimuli (conditioning stimuli,CS), many organisms perceive, in the absence ofphysical stimuli, illusory motion in the opposite direction.This phenomenon is known as the motion aftereffect(MAE). Here, we use MAE as a tool to study theneuronal basis of visual motion perception in zebra-fish larvae. Using zebrafish eye movements as anindicator of visual motion perception, we find thatlarvae perceive MAE. Blocking eye movements usingoptogenetics during CS presentation did not affectMAE, but tectal ablation significantly weakened it.Using two-photon calcium imaging of behavingGCaMP3 larvae, we find post-stimulation sustainedrhythmic activity among direction-selective tectalneurons associated with the perception of MAE. Inaddition, tectal neurons tuned to the CS directionhabituated, but neurons in the retina did not. Finally,a model based on competition between directionselectiveneurons reproduced MAE, suggesting aneuronal circuit capable of generating perception ofvisual motion.