Visual Input Modulates Audiomotor Function via Hypothalamic Dopaminergic Neurons through a Cooperative Mechanism
- Authors
- Mu, Y., Li, X.Q., Zhang, B., and Du, J.L.
- ID
- ZDB-PUB-120830-15
- Date
- 2012
- Source
- Neuron 75(4): 688-699 (Journal)
- Registered Authors
- Du, Jiu Lin, Mu, Yu, Zhang, Bo
- Keywords
- none
- MeSH Terms
-
- Hypothalamus/cytology*
- Flufenamic Acid/pharmacology
- Acoustic Stimulation/adverse effects
- Apomorphine/pharmacology
- 6-Cyano-7-nitroquinoxaline-2,3-dione/pharmacology
- Benzazepines/pharmacology
- Dopamine Antagonists/pharmacology
- Photic Stimulation/methods
- Action Potentials/drug effects
- Action Potentials/physiology
- Zebrafish
- Light
- Valine/analogs & derivatives
- Valine/pharmacology
- Animals
- Patch-Clamp Techniques
- Signal-To-Noise Ratio
- Behavior, Animal
- Excitatory Amino Acid Agonists/pharmacology
- Functional Laterality
- Escape Reaction/drug effects
- Escape Reaction/physiology*
- Morpholinos/pharmacology
- Dopamine Agonists/pharmacology
- Receptors, Dopamine D1/physiology
- Visual Pathways/drug effects
- Visual Pathways/physiology*
- Dopaminergic Neurons/drug effects
- Dopaminergic Neurons/physiology*
- Cell Communication/drug effects
- Cell Communication/physiology*
- Locomotion/physiology*
- Excitatory Postsynaptic Potentials/drug effects
- In Vitro Techniques
- Time Factors
- Microscopy, Confocal
- Glycyrrhetinic Acid/pharmacology
- Psychoacoustics
- Biotin/analogs & derivatives
- Biotin/metabolism
- Larva
- PubMed
- 22920259 Full text @ Neuron
Visual cues often modulate auditory signal processing, leading to improved sound detection. However, the synaptic and circuit mechanism underlying this cross-modal modulation remains poorly understood. Using larval zebrafish, we first established a cross-modal behavioral paradigm in which a preceding flash enhances sound-evoked escape behavior, which is known to be executed through auditory afferents (VIIIth nerves) and command-like neurons (Mauthner cells). In vivo recording revealed that the visual enhancement of auditory escape is achieved by increasing sound-evoked Mauthner cell responses. This increase in Mauthner cell responses is accounted for by the increase in the signal-to-noise ratio of sound-evoked VIIIth nerve spiking and efficacy of VIIIth nerve-Mauthner cell synapses. Furthermore, the visual enhancement of Mauthner cell response and escape behavior requires light-responsive dopaminergic neurons in the caudal hypothalamus and D1 dopamine receptor activation. Our findings illustrate a cooperative neural mechanism for visual modulation of audiomotor processing that involves dopaminergic neuromodulation.