PUBLICATION
Analysis of the activity-deprived zebrafish mutant macho reveals an essential requirement of neuronal activity for the development of a fine-grained visuotopic map
- Authors
- Gnuegge, L., Schmid, S., and Neuhauss, S.C.F.
- ID
- ZDB-PUB-010522-7
- Date
- 2001
- Source
- The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience 21(10): 3542-3548 (Journal)
- Registered Authors
- Neuhauss, Stephan
- Keywords
- visual system; retinotectal projection; sodium currents; zebrafish; axon guidance; plasticity; Danio rerio; retinal ganglion cell; TTX
- MeSH Terms
-
- Animals
- Axons/drug effects
- Axons/physiology
- Axons/ultrastructure
- Eye Movements/drug effects
- Eye Movements/physiology
- Fluorescent Dyes
- Genes, Recessive
- Microinjections
- Mutation/physiology*
- Neuronal Plasticity/drug effects
- Neuronal Plasticity/physiology
- Neurons/drug effects
- Neurons/physiology*
- Patch-Clamp Techniques
- Presynaptic Terminals/physiology
- Retina/cytology
- Retina/drug effects
- Retina/physiology*
- Retinal Ganglion Cells/drug effects
- Retinal Ganglion Cells/physiology
- Sodium/metabolism
- Superior Colliculi/cytology
- Superior Colliculi/drug effects
- Superior Colliculi/physiology*
- Tetrodotoxin/administration & dosage
- Visual Pathways/drug effects
- Visual Pathways/growth & development
- Visual Pathways/physiology*
- Zebrafish
- PubMed
- 11331383 Full text @ J. Neurosci.
Citation
Gnuegge, L., Schmid, S., and Neuhauss, S.C.F. (2001) Analysis of the activity-deprived zebrafish mutant macho reveals an essential requirement of neuronal activity for the development of a fine-grained visuotopic map. The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience. 21(10):3542-3548.
Abstract
The formation of a retinotopic map is thought to involve an activity-independent molecular phase for early steps of both axon pathfinding and projection and a later phase in which cross talk between retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) and tectal neurons modifies and refines the neuronal connections. We report that the maturation of the retinotopic map in the zebrafish tectum involves activity-dependent processes. Zebrafish larvae mutant for the gene macho (mao) lack neuronal activity in RGCs and also display an enlarged retinotectal projection field but no significant increase in single axon length. This morphological defect can be phenocopied by raising larvae under TTX-induced neural impulse blockade. The effect of activity deprivation is dependent on the developmental stage. The projection phenotype in mao as well as in the TTX-treated larvae develops between 4 and 6 d post-fertilization (dpf), after complete tectal coverage is first achieved. Electrophysiological recordings of RGCs in wild-type and mao zebrafish larvae reveal a temporally regulated reduction of sodium current in the mutant between 5 and 6 dpf. This coincides with the time of the axonal projection shifting on the tectum to compensate for the disparate growth patterns of the retina and the tectum. Our genetic and physiological analyses suggest a model in which neuronal activity in RGCs is needed for the establishment of morphological plasticity.
Genes / Markers
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping