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Visual acuity in larval zebrafish: behavior and histology
BACKGROUND: Visual acuity, the ability of the visual system to distinguish two separate objects at a given angular distance, is influenced by the optical and neuronal properties of the visual system. Although many factors may contribute, the ultimate limit is photoreceptor spacing. In general, at le...
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Formato: | Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
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BioMed Central
2010
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Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2848032/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20193078 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1742-9994-7-8 |
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author | Haug, Marion F Biehlmaier, Oliver Mueller, Kaspar P Neuhauss, Stephan CF |
author_facet | Haug, Marion F Biehlmaier, Oliver Mueller, Kaspar P Neuhauss, Stephan CF |
author_sort | Haug, Marion F |
collection | PubMed |
description | BACKGROUND: Visual acuity, the ability of the visual system to distinguish two separate objects at a given angular distance, is influenced by the optical and neuronal properties of the visual system. Although many factors may contribute, the ultimate limit is photoreceptor spacing. In general, at least one unstimulated photoreceptor flanked by two stimulated ones is needed to perceive two objects as separate. This critical interval is also referred to as the Nyquist frequency and is according to the Shannon sampling theorem the highest spatial frequency where a pattern can be faithfully transmitted. We measured visual acuity in a behavioral experiment and compared the data to the physical limit given by photoreceptor spacing in zebrafish larvae. RESULTS: We determined visual acuity by using the optokinetic response (OKR), reflexive eye movements in response to whole field movements of the visual scene. By altering the spatial frequency we determined the visual acuity at approximately 0.16 cycles/degree (cpd) (minimum separable angle = 3.1°). On histological sections we measured the retinal magnification factor and the distance between double cones, that are thought to mediate motion perception. These measurements set the physical limit at 0.24 cpd (2.1°). CONCLUSION: The maximal spatial information as limited by photoreceptor spacing can not be fully utilized in a motion dependent visual behavior, arguing that the larval zebrafish visual system has not matured enough to optimally translate visual information into behavior. Nevertheless behavioral acuity is remarkable close to its maximal value, given the immature state of young zebrafish larvae. |
format | Text |
id | pubmed-2848032 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2010 |
publisher | BioMed Central |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-28480322010-04-01 Visual acuity in larval zebrafish: behavior and histology Haug, Marion F Biehlmaier, Oliver Mueller, Kaspar P Neuhauss, Stephan CF Front Zool Research BACKGROUND: Visual acuity, the ability of the visual system to distinguish two separate objects at a given angular distance, is influenced by the optical and neuronal properties of the visual system. Although many factors may contribute, the ultimate limit is photoreceptor spacing. In general, at least one unstimulated photoreceptor flanked by two stimulated ones is needed to perceive two objects as separate. This critical interval is also referred to as the Nyquist frequency and is according to the Shannon sampling theorem the highest spatial frequency where a pattern can be faithfully transmitted. We measured visual acuity in a behavioral experiment and compared the data to the physical limit given by photoreceptor spacing in zebrafish larvae. RESULTS: We determined visual acuity by using the optokinetic response (OKR), reflexive eye movements in response to whole field movements of the visual scene. By altering the spatial frequency we determined the visual acuity at approximately 0.16 cycles/degree (cpd) (minimum separable angle = 3.1°). On histological sections we measured the retinal magnification factor and the distance between double cones, that are thought to mediate motion perception. These measurements set the physical limit at 0.24 cpd (2.1°). CONCLUSION: The maximal spatial information as limited by photoreceptor spacing can not be fully utilized in a motion dependent visual behavior, arguing that the larval zebrafish visual system has not matured enough to optimally translate visual information into behavior. Nevertheless behavioral acuity is remarkable close to its maximal value, given the immature state of young zebrafish larvae. BioMed Central 2010-03-01 /pmc/articles/PMC2848032/ /pubmed/20193078 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1742-9994-7-8 Text en Copyright ©2010 Haug et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
spellingShingle | Research Haug, Marion F Biehlmaier, Oliver Mueller, Kaspar P Neuhauss, Stephan CF Visual acuity in larval zebrafish: behavior and histology |
title | Visual acuity in larval zebrafish: behavior and histology |
title_full | Visual acuity in larval zebrafish: behavior and histology |
title_fullStr | Visual acuity in larval zebrafish: behavior and histology |
title_full_unstemmed | Visual acuity in larval zebrafish: behavior and histology |
title_short | Visual acuity in larval zebrafish: behavior and histology |
title_sort | visual acuity in larval zebrafish: behavior and histology |
topic | Research |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2848032/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20193078 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1742-9994-7-8 |
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