INVESTIGADORES
BERON DE ASTRADA Martin
congresos y reuniones científicas
Título:
Arthropod´s peripheral visual neurons shape behavioral responses to object motion stimuli
Autor/es:
MARTÍN BERÓN DE ASTRADA
Lugar:
Montevideo
Reunión:
Congreso; XII International Congress of Neuroethology; 2016
Institución organizadora:
International Society for Neuroethology
Resumen:
Object motion detection provides essential cues for a wide variety of animal behaviors such as mate, prey, or predator detection. In decapod crustaceans and pterygote insects, object motion would be first codified by small field columnar neurons projecting from the second to the third optic neuropil. Studying electrophyisiolocally the codification properties of these columnar neurons has been an elusive issue. Thus, we have started studying the population calcium response of these columnar neurons to different visual cues such as target velocity, contrast and motion direction. The activity observed in these columnar neurons from crabs showed a high correlation with behavioral responses to variations in such visual parameters. Besides, in many different arthropod species (e.g. hoverflies, locusts, crayfishes and crabs) the repetitive presentation of object motion stimuli induces a reduction in the response of tangential neurons from their third optic ganglion that would account for the reduction in the animal response to repetitive visual stimulation. We found that the calcium response of their columnar presynaptic neurons rapidly declines with repetitive motion stimuli presentations. In correspondence with animal behavior and with the activity of the tangential neurons, the response of their presynaptic columnar neurons completely recovers after fifteen minutes and the reduction in response is retinotopic specific. Our results show that stereotyped but still plastic behaviors can already be shaped by the activity of peripheral columnar neurons arising in the arthropod?s second optic ganglion.