Whole-Brain Activity Maps Reveal Stereotyped, Distributed Networks for Visuomotor Behavior

Abstract

Summary Most behaviors, even simple innate reflexes, are mediated by circuits of neurons spanning areas throughout the brain. However, in most cases, the distribution and dynamics of firing patterns of these neurons during behavior are not known. We imaged activity, with cellular resolution, throughout the whole brains of zebrafish performing the optokinetic response. We found a sparse, broadly distributed network that has an elaborate, but ordered, pattern, with a bilaterally symmetrical organization. Activity patterns fell into distinct clusters reflecting sensory and motor processing. By correlating neuronal responses with an array of sensory and motor variables, we find that the network can be clearly divided into distinct functional modules. Comparing aligned data from multiple fish, we find that the spatiotemporal activity dynamics and functional organization are highly stereotyped across individuals. These experiments reveal, for the first time in a vertebrate, the comprehensive functional architecture of the neural circuits underlying a sensorimotor behavior.

Autonomous system for cross-organ investigation of ethanol-induced acute response in behaving larval zebrafish

“…Notably, ethanol showed strong excitatory effects in brain regions in caudal hindbrain, cerebellum, ventral midbrain, and forebrain, which has previously been reported to be responsible for locomotion and vision related functions. 24,35,36 We believed that this novel and versatile Fish-on-Chip platform has the potential to be widely adopted in zebrafish studies.…”

Hierarchy of Neural Organization in the Embryonic Spinal Cord: Granger-Causality Graph Analysis of In Vivo Calcium Imaging Data

“…Recently, the combination of optical and genetic techniques has allowed to record networks composed of thousands of neurons at single-cell resolution level [3], [4], [18], [19], [39], [40]. In the zebrafish embryonic spinal cord we show here that Granger-causality graph analysis of calcium imaging data, obtained from a single plane at the single cell resolution and low acquisition rate, can resolve the well-known rostro-caudal propagation in the spinal cord where cross-correlation analysis did fail.…”

“…Applied to Z-scan measurements, our methodological approach could provide new insights on mechanisms underlying activity propagation and information flows between larger populations of neurons in dataset acquired on the whole brain [4], [18], [19], [39], [40], [42] and at faster acquisition rates [43]. However, when considering a large number of neurons (N >>10), particular attention should be paid to the statistical validation of the estimated GC networks.…”

Connectome Networks: From Cells to Systems

“…This dynamic circuit activity can be analyzed with time series methods, and there is evidence of functionally coherent circuits forming clusters or modules (Portugues et al 2014). A near-term goal will be to relate the timing of correlated neural events to underlying anatomical connections that modulate whole-brain functional connectivity.…”