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A model-based quantification of startle reflex habituation in larval zebrafish

Zebrafish is an established animal model for the reproduction and study of neurobiological pathogenesis of human neurological conditions. The ‘startle reflex’ in zebrafish larvae is an evolutionarily preserved defence response, manifesting as a quick body-bend in reaction to sudden sensory stimuli....

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Autores principales: Beppi, Carolina, Straumann, Dominik, Bögli, Stefan Yu
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Nature Publishing Group UK 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7804396/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33436805
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-79923-6
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author Beppi, Carolina
Straumann, Dominik
Bögli, Stefan Yu
author_facet Beppi, Carolina
Straumann, Dominik
Bögli, Stefan Yu
author_sort Beppi, Carolina
collection PubMed
description Zebrafish is an established animal model for the reproduction and study of neurobiological pathogenesis of human neurological conditions. The ‘startle reflex’ in zebrafish larvae is an evolutionarily preserved defence response, manifesting as a quick body-bend in reaction to sudden sensory stimuli. Changes in startle reflex habituation characterise several neuropsychiatric disorders and hence represent an informative index of neurophysiological health. This study aimed at establishing a simple and reliable experimental protocol for the quantification of startle reflex response and habituation. The fish were stimulated with 20 repeated pulses of specific vibratory frequency, acoustic intensity/power, light-intensity and interstimulus-interval, in three separate studies. The cumulative distance travelled, namely the sum of the distance travelled (mm) during all 20 stimuli, was computed as a group-level description for all the experimental conditions in each study. Additionally, by the use of bootstrapping, the data was fitted to a model of habituation with a first-order exponential representing the decay of locomotor distance travelled over repeated stimulation. Our results suggest that startle habituation is a stereotypic first-order process with a decay constant ranging from 1 to 2 stimuli. Habituation memory lasts no more than 5 min, as manifested by the locomotor activity recovering to baseline levels. We further observed significant effects of vibratory frequency, acoustic intensity/power and interstimulus-interval on the amplitude, offset, decay constant and cumulative distance travelled. Instead, the intensity of the flashed light did not contribute to significant behavioural variations. The findings provide novel insights as to the influence of different stimuli parameters on the startle reflex habituation and constitute a helpful reference framework for further investigation.
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spelling pubmed-78043962021-01-13 A model-based quantification of startle reflex habituation in larval zebrafish Beppi, Carolina Straumann, Dominik Bögli, Stefan Yu Sci Rep Article Zebrafish is an established animal model for the reproduction and study of neurobiological pathogenesis of human neurological conditions. The ‘startle reflex’ in zebrafish larvae is an evolutionarily preserved defence response, manifesting as a quick body-bend in reaction to sudden sensory stimuli. Changes in startle reflex habituation characterise several neuropsychiatric disorders and hence represent an informative index of neurophysiological health. This study aimed at establishing a simple and reliable experimental protocol for the quantification of startle reflex response and habituation. The fish were stimulated with 20 repeated pulses of specific vibratory frequency, acoustic intensity/power, light-intensity and interstimulus-interval, in three separate studies. The cumulative distance travelled, namely the sum of the distance travelled (mm) during all 20 stimuli, was computed as a group-level description for all the experimental conditions in each study. Additionally, by the use of bootstrapping, the data was fitted to a model of habituation with a first-order exponential representing the decay of locomotor distance travelled over repeated stimulation. Our results suggest that startle habituation is a stereotypic first-order process with a decay constant ranging from 1 to 2 stimuli. Habituation memory lasts no more than 5 min, as manifested by the locomotor activity recovering to baseline levels. We further observed significant effects of vibratory frequency, acoustic intensity/power and interstimulus-interval on the amplitude, offset, decay constant and cumulative distance travelled. Instead, the intensity of the flashed light did not contribute to significant behavioural variations. The findings provide novel insights as to the influence of different stimuli parameters on the startle reflex habituation and constitute a helpful reference framework for further investigation. Nature Publishing Group UK 2021-01-12 /pmc/articles/PMC7804396/ /pubmed/33436805 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-79923-6 Text en © The Author(s) 2021 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) .
spellingShingle Article
Beppi, Carolina
Straumann, Dominik
Bögli, Stefan Yu
A model-based quantification of startle reflex habituation in larval zebrafish
title A model-based quantification of startle reflex habituation in larval zebrafish
title_full A model-based quantification of startle reflex habituation in larval zebrafish
title_fullStr A model-based quantification of startle reflex habituation in larval zebrafish
title_full_unstemmed A model-based quantification of startle reflex habituation in larval zebrafish
title_short A model-based quantification of startle reflex habituation in larval zebrafish
title_sort model-based quantification of startle reflex habituation in larval zebrafish
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7804396/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33436805
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-79923-6
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