Lateral line function and respiratory noise

Abstract

Event Abstract Back to Event Lateral line function and respiratory noise Hendrik Herzog1*, Joachim Mogdans1 and Horst Bleckmann1 1 University of Bonn, Germany The lateral line system of fish responds to hydrodynamic stimuli and to hydrodynamic noise. In electrophysiological experiments one source of noise that contaminates the physiological data are the water motions generated by artificial respiration. Visualization of the respiratory flow of Ide, Leuciscus idus, revealed a complex pattern of turbulences. In our setup the flow was oriented predominantly rostrocaudally with velocities of approximately 3 cm/s. The belly of the Ide was more affected by the flow than the back and, in some cases, even the head was affected. Fluorescence staining revealed that there were neuromasts on the head and on the back of the animal but neuromasts were not found directly behind the gills, i.e. in the area of the highest velocities caused by the respiratory water flow Under still water conditions, 43 out of 88 primary lateral line afferents of the Ide changed their discharge rate by more than 10 % when artificial ventilation was turned on. Afferents that innervated a cephalic neuromast or a trunk neuromast near the tail changed their rates by about 10 to 11%. In contrast, afferents innervating neuromasts located between gill cover and dorsal fin changed their rates on average by 23 to 26%. These neuromasts most likely were stimulated by the fading turbulences caused by the respiratory water flow. When artificial ventilation was switched off, most of the 43 units showed a reduced on-going activity and more regular spike patterns. When stimulated with a dipole source, the ongoing activity of those units that responded strongest to 60 or 80 Hz was, on average, more affected by the ventilatory water flow than the ongoing activity of units that responded strongest to 100 Hz. Finally, the effect of the respiratory water flow on unit activity decreased with increasing velocity of a superimposed bulk water flow. As a consequence, unit responses to the bulk flow, especially to low flow velocities, were more prominent without ventilation than with ventilation. Our physiological data raise the question how Ide cope with the noise caused by natural breathing. Recording breathing behavior of fish in a ~2 cm/s water stream revealed quite irregular respiration patterns. Periods of continuous breathing with short respiratory cycles were interrupted by periods of up to 25 s without breathing. This suggests that fish temporally separate phases of the necessary but noise producing respiration and phases without respiration, during which they may sense their undisturbed hydrodynamic environment. Acknowledgements Supported by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) Keywords: artificial ventilation, breathing behavior, Lateral Line, Mechanoreception, Noise Conference: Tenth International Congress of Neuroethology, College Park. Maryland USA, United States, 5 Aug - 10 Aug, 2012. Presentation Type: Poster (but consider for Participant Symposium) Topic: Sensory: Mechanosensation Citation: Herzog H, Mogdans J and Bleckmann H (2012). Lateral line function and respiratory noise. Conference Abstract: Tenth International Congress of Neuroethology. doi: 10.3389/conf.fnbeh.2012.27.00266 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 30 Apr 2012; Published Online: 07 Jul 2012. * Correspondence: Mr. Hendrik Herzog, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany, hendrik.herzog@uni-bonn.de Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Hendrik Herzog Joachim Mogdans Horst Bleckmann Google Hendrik Herzog Joachim Mogdans Horst Bleckmann Google Scholar Hendrik Herzog Joachim Mogdans Horst Bleckmann PubMed Hendrik Herzog Joachim Mogdans Horst Bleckmann Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.