PUBLICATION
Brainstem circuits encoding start, speed, and duration of swimming in adult zebrafish
- Authors
- Berg, E.M., Mrowka, L., Bertuzzi, M., Madrid, D., Picton, L.D., El Manira, A.
- ID
- ZDB-PUB-221123-7
- Date
- 2022
- Source
- Neuron 111(3): 372-386.e4 (Journal)
- Registered Authors
- Keywords
- brainstem, command neurons, glutamatergic neurons, locomotion, movements, spinal cord, zebrafish
- MeSH Terms
-
- Animals
- Brain Stem/physiology
- Locomotion/physiology
- Neurons/physiology
- Spinal Cord/physiology
- Swimming*
- Zebrafish*/physiology
- PubMed
- 36413988 Full text @ Neuron
Citation
Berg, E.M., Mrowka, L., Bertuzzi, M., Madrid, D., Picton, L.D., El Manira, A. (2022) Brainstem circuits encoding start, speed, and duration of swimming in adult zebrafish. Neuron. 111(3):372-386.e4.
Abstract
The flexibility of locomotor movements requires an accurate control of their start, duration, and speed. How brainstem circuits encode and convey these locomotor parameters remains unclear. Here, we have combined in vivo calcium imaging, electrophysiology, anatomy, and behavior in adult zebrafish to address these questions. We reveal that the detailed parameters of locomotor movements are encoded by two molecularly, topographically, and functionally segregated glutamatergic neuron subpopulations within the nucleus of the medial longitudinal fasciculus. The start, duration, and changes of locomotion speed are encoded by vGlut2+ neurons, whereas vGlut1+ neurons encode sudden changes to high speed/high amplitude movements. Ablation of vGlut2+ neurons compromised slow-explorative swimming, whereas vGlut1+ neuron ablation impaired fast swimming. Our results provide mechanistic insights into how separate brainstem subpopulations implement flexible locomotor commands. These two brainstem command subpopulations are suitably organized to integrate environmental cues and hence generate flexible swimming movements to match the animal's behavioral needs.
Genes / Markers
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping