Lateral line ablation by ototoxic compounds results in distinct rheotaxis profiles in larval zebrafish

Abstract

The zebrafish lateral line is an established model for hair cell organ damage, yet few studies link mechanistic disruptions to changes in biologically relevant behavior. We used larval zebrafish to determine how damage via ototoxic compounds impact rheotaxis. Larvae were treated with CuSO4 or neomycin to disrupt lateral line function then exposed to water flow stimuli. Their swimming behavior was recorded on video then DeepLabCut and SimBA software were used to track movements and classify rheotaxis behavior, respectively. Lateral line-disrupted fish performed rheotaxis, but they swam greater distances, for shorter durations, and with greater angular variance than controls. Furthermore, spectral decomposition analyses confirmed that lesioned fish exhibited ototoxic compound-specific behavioral profiles with distinct changes in the magnitude, frequency, and cross-correlation between fluctuations in linear and angular movements. Our observations demonstrate that lateral line input is needed for fish to hold their station in flow efficiently and reveals that commonly used lesion methods have unique effects on rheotaxis behavior.

High-THCCannabissmoke impairs working memory capacity in spontaneous tests of novelty preference for objects and odors in rats

“…Within the present study, our DLC model did not generalize well to behavioral videos filmed for task validation, likely due to divergent resolution dimensions and color contrast that was not well represented in the model training set. Software native performance metrics for both behavioral classifiers closely mirror those reported in published studies utilizing SMLbased analysis; however, manual verification of predictions revealed significant instances of misclassification (Newton et al, 2023;Winters et al, 2022). We contend that supplementing classifier performance metrics with correlational analysis and verification steps are best practices when conducting scaled automated behavioral analysis.…”

“…As we employed a 2-dimensional (2D) pose-estimation approach, movements along the height of stimuli were not well captured, potentially leading to sub-optimal predictions and grounds for exclusion. While classifiers trained on 2D pose-estimation data show reliability on classifying behaviors restricted to single-plane spatiotemporal movements, recent studies of complex behaviors, such as self-grooming, generally train classifiers on 3D pose-estimation data to better capture the entirety of a movement and to minimize occlusion (Marshall et al, 2021(Marshall et al, , 2022Minkowicz et al, 2023;Newton et al, 2023). To fully capture behaviors of interest, researchers utilizing automated behavioral analysis should be cognisant of the angle, and number, of camera perspectives used during filming (Luxem et al, 2022).…”

“…Typical approaches to quantifying rodent behavior for spontaneous interaction tests are generally laborious, prone to human subjectivity, and lack objective analysis steps that can be verified and reproduced (Anderson & Perona, 2014). Recent advances in automated behavioral analysis have enabled researchers to obtain a detailed and objective record of a diversity of complex behaviors across species (Cui et al, 2021;Newton et al, 2023;Nilsson et al, 2020;Slivicki et al, 2023;Winters et al, 2022). Here, we automatically quantified interaction events using a supervised machine learning (SML)-based analysis approach, then upon manual inspection of SML predictions, sub-optimal predictions were supplemented by human stopwatch scoring to form a human-machine hybrid (HYB) scoring method (Mathis et al, 2018;Nilsson et al, 2020).…”

Hatchling fish disperse using an efficient multisensory strategy

“…Hatchlings set the gain of this feedback – how much each swim bout corrected deviations from horizontal – to hyperstabilize swimming based on multisensory visual and lateral line information, revealing an approach that not only improved dispersal in stagnant conditions but may generally afford flexible management of trade-offs between stability and maneuverability [61]. These data provide evidence for long-timescale modifications to swimming based on lateral line sensation that complement short-timescale responses during rheotaxis [62–64] and long-timescale hormonal changes [65]. Flow stimuli can elicit sustained activity changes in the serotonergic raphe [66], identifying a potential neural intermediate to transform prolonged flow changes into swimming adaptation and integrate flow and visual sensation.…”

Cisplatin drives mitochondrial dysregulation in sensory hair cells

“…Experiments with the microflume were adapted from methods that used an orbital shaker to stimulate the lateral-line organ (21). Briefly, larvae at 5 dpf were transferred into a microflume apparatus that produces a consistent flow stimulus of 5 mm/sec (~1 larval length/sec) (62). Larvae were exposed to this flow stimulus for 24 hours in EM.…”