Identification of a Brain Center Whose Activity Discriminates a Choice Behavior in Zebrafish

Details

• Personal Author:
  and Guo S ; Gould GG ; Lau BYB ; Mathur P
• Description:
  The ability to make choices and carry out appropriate actions is critical for individual survival and well-being. Choice behaviors, from hard-wired to experience-dependent, have been observed across the animal kingdom. Although differential engagement of sensory neuronal pathways is a known mechanism, neurobiological substrates in the brain that underlie choice making downstream of sensory perception are not well understood. Here, we report a behavioral paradigm in zebrafish in which a half-light/half-dark visual image evokes an innate choice behavior, light avoidance. Neuronal activity mapping using the immediate early gene c-fos reveals the engagement of distinct brain regions, including the medial zone of the dorsal telencephalic region (Dm) and the dorsal nucleus of the ventral telencephalic area (Vd), the teleost anatomical homologs of the mammalian amygdala and striatum, respectively. In animals that were subjected to the identical sensory stimulus but displayed little or no avoidance, strikingly, the Dm and Vd were not engaged, despite similar levels of activation in the brain nuclei involved in visual processing. Based on these findings and previous connectivity data, we propose a neural circuitry model in which the Dm serves as a brain center, the activity of which predicates this choice behavior in zebrafish. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Animals Behavior Decision Making Genetics Nervous System Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Anxiety Author Keywords: Emotion Brain Function Cognitive Function Decision-making Decision Making Fear Genes Sensory Perceptual Processes Visual Images
• ISSN:
  0027-8424
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  California ; OSHA Region 6 ; OSHA Region 9 ; Texas
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  108
• Issue:
  6
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20064465
• Citation:
  Proc Natl Acad Sci U.S.A. 2011 Feb; 108(6):2581-2586
• Contact Point Address:
  Su Guo, Programs in Neuroscience, Genetics, Developmental Biology, and Human Genetics, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94143-2811
• Email:
  su.guo@ucsf.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2011
• Performing Organization:
  University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
• End Date:
  20250630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:f48606d129234e98dbf5a9d4c341ad64291ec733f1d22959da7a91da8f4a87aeeac8a7eaf02c68cb6d9ef98085581d64a10be9158b69e7a4b133b9d5629dbc3a
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/222918/cdc_222918_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.01 MB ]