Lateral line units in the amphibian brain could integrate wave curvatures.
Aquatic predators like Xenopus laevis exploit mechano-sensory lateral lines to localise prey on the water surface by its wave emissions. In terms of distance, hypothetically, the source of a concentric wave could be centrally represented based on wave curvatures: for Xenopus, we present a first sample of 98 extracellularly recorded brainstem and midbrain responses to waves with curvatures ranging from 22.2-11.1 m(-1). At the frog, concurrently, wave amplitudes and their spectral composition were kept stable. Notably, 61% of 98 units displayed curvature-dependent spike rates, suggesting that wave curvatures could support an extraction of source distances in the amphibian brain.
Behrend
Oliver
O
Institute of Biology, Humboldt University, Invalidenstr. 43, 10115 Berlin, Germany. behrend@rz.hu-berlin.de
Branoner
Francisco
F
Ziehm
Ulrike
U
Zhivkov
Zhivko
Z
D000200:Action Potentials / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology; D001921:Brain / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology*; D001933:Brain Stem / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology; D005106:Exploratory Behavior / Q000502:physiology; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000502:physiology; D053403:Lateral Line System / Q000502:physiology*; D040542:Mechanotransduction, Cellular / Q000502:physiology*; D009475:Neurons, Afferent / Q000502:physiology*; D013045:Species Specificity; D013550:Swimming / Q000502:physiology; D014982:Xenopus laevis / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology*