Wireless recording and computational modeling of natural electrosensory input in freely swimming electric fish

Abstract

Event Abstract Back to Event Wireless recording and computational modeling of natural electrosensory input in freely swimming electric fish Haleh Fotowat1*, Reid R. Harrison2 and Rüdiger Krahe1 1 McGill University, Biology, Canada 2 Intan Technologies, LLC, United States Physiological properties of sensory neurons have evolved to extract features of stimuli that are relevant for guiding animals’ behavior within their natural environment. Therefore, to understand the neural computations that underlie sensory-guided behaviors, it is important to achieve a quantitative understanding of the range of natural stimuli that a given sensory system receives. The South American gymnotiform fish generate an electric field around their body through discharges of an electric organ positioned in their tail. Objects with conductivity different from that of the water, and the electric fields generated by other electric fish create amplitude and phase modulations in the electric field that are sensed by electroreceptors that are distributed all over the skin. The electroreceptor afferents project to the electrosensory lateral line lobe (ELL) in the hindbrain, where they synapse on different classes of pyramidal cells with distinct spatiotemporal tuning properties. Although the anatomy and physiology of the ELL pyramidal neurons is fairly well characterized, the dynamics of the natural inputs they receive, and thus the mechanisms by which they could contribute to behavior remain largely unknown. These dynamics should be measured in freely behaving fish because swimming movements alone cause modulations in the electric field as they result in the movement of the electric organ relative to the electroreceptors. We used a miniature wireless telemetry system, to measure the input to the electroreceptors, the local transdermal potential, at a point on the skin in freely swimming weakly electric fish, Apteronotus leptorhynchus. A pair of video cameras was used to simultaneously monitor the locomotion behavior during these recordings. We developed automatic video tracking software and used a computational model of the electric field to calculate changes in transdermal potential caused by natural swimming movements. Tail bends and body movements relative to boundaries of the tank resulted in low frequency amplitude modulations around the frequency of electric organ discharge (EOD). We found a good agreement between the model and the experimental data. Additionally, using the model, we could estimate amplitude modulations at other points along fish’s body. During social interactions with a second fish, the recorded potential was additionally modulated around the difference between the EOD frequencies of the two fish (beat frequency). The depth of these modulations covered a much larger range than those generated by tail bends and boundaries and was itself modulated over time as a result of relative movement of the two fish. Results from this study shed light on the natural dynamics of electrosensory input and how it varies along fish’s body and can be used to simulate behaviorally relevant sensory stimuli for the further investigation of natural sensory processing. Acknowledgements Thanks to Dr. John Maunsell for his support for this project. Keywords: Natural electrosensory input, weakly electric fish, wireless telemetry 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: Electrosensory Citation: Fotowat H, Harrison RR and Krahe R (2012). Wireless recording and computational modeling of natural electrosensory input in freely swimming electric fish. Conference Abstract: Tenth International Congress of Neuroethology. doi: 10.3389/conf.fnbeh.2012.27.00216 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: 29 Apr 2012; Published Online: 07 Jul 2012. * Correspondence: Dr. Haleh Fotowat, McGill University, Biology, Montreal, QC, H3A 1B1, Canada, haleh.fotowat@mcgill.ca 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 Haleh Fotowat Reid R Harrison Rüdiger Krahe Google Haleh Fotowat Reid R Harrison Rüdiger Krahe Google Scholar Haleh Fotowat Reid R Harrison Rüdiger Krahe PubMed Haleh Fotowat Reid R Harrison Rüdiger Krahe 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.