Spatial navigation in amphibians: Hippocampal encoding of space based on conspecific vocalizations

VERNER PETER BINGMAN; RUBÉN NÉSTOR MUZIO; MARÍA INÉS SOTELO

Brisbane

Congreso; 13th International Congress of Neuroethology; 2018

How do toads orient in space? How do they find water and ponds to mate? To address these questions in controlled laboratory conditions we trained eight naive partially dehydrated toads (Rhinella arenarum) to look for water as reward in a plus maze. A recorded conespecific male call was played as the only cue present to signal the goal. Animals were able to learn the task in six days and tests showed that they were in fact using the sound to locate the goal. Post-mortem analysis of brain activity through the immediate-early gene activation-c-Fos showed that theposterior zone of the hippocampal formation of the trained toads had more Fos+ nuclei compared to controls. Our results support the idea that sound can be used in this species to locate a goal, such as a water pond, and the hippocampus would be involved in the encoding of this behavior.