HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: 100/6/2997    most recent 91033.2008v1 Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Web of Science (1) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Szabo, T. M. Articles by Faber, D. S. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Szabo, T. M. Articles by Faber, D. S.

Effects of Temperature Acclimation on a Central Neural Circuit and Its Behavioral Output

¹Marine Biological Laboratories, Woods Hole; ²Department of Biology, Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts; and ³Dominick P. Purpura Department of Neuroscience, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Yeshiva University, Bronx, New York

Submitted 11 September 2008; accepted in final form 14 October 2008

In this study, we address the impact of temperature acclimation on neuronal properties in the Mauthner (M-) system, a brain stem network that initiates the startle-escape behavior in goldfish. The M-cell can be studied at cellular and behavioral levels, since it is uniquely identifiable physiologically within the intact vertebrate brain, and a single action potential in this neuron determines not only whether a startle response will occur but also the direction of the escape. Using animals acclimated to 15°C as a control, 25°C-acclimated fish showed a significant increase in escape probability and a decrease in the ability to discriminate escape directionality. Intracellular recordings demonstrated that M-cells in this population possessed decreased input resistance and reduced strength and duration of inhibitory inputs. In contrast, fish acclimated to 5°C were behaviorally similar to 15°C fish and had increased input resistance, increased strength of inhibitory transmission, and reduced excitatory transmission. We show here that alterations in the balance between excitatory and inhibitory synaptic transmission in the M-cell circuit underlie differences in behavioral responsiveness in acclimated populations. Specifically, during warm acclimation, synaptic inputs are weighted on the side of excitation and fish demonstrate hyperexcitability and reduced left–right discrimination during rapid escapes. In contrast, cold acclimation results in transmission weighted on the side of inhibition and these fish are less excitable and show improved directional discrimination.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				K. T. Sillar and R. M. Robertson Thermal activation of escape swimming in post-hatching Xenopus laevis frog larvae J. Exp. Biol., August 1, 2009; 212(15): 2356 - 2364. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]