title: Direction selectivity in the visual system of the zebrafish larva.
abstract: Neural circuits in the vertebrate retina extract the direction of object motion from visual scenes and convey this information to sensory brain areas, including the optic tectum. It is unclear how computational layers beyond the retina process directional inputs. Recent developmental and functional studies in the zebrafish larva, using minimally invasive optical imaging techniques, indicate that direction selectivity might be a genetically hardwired property of the zebrafish brain. Axons from specific direction-selective (DS) retinal ganglion cells appear to converge on distinct laminae in the superficial tectal neuropil where they serve as inputs to DS postsynaptic neurons of matching specificity. In addition, inhibitory recurrent circuits in the tectum might strengthen the DS response of tectal output neurons. Here we review these recent findings and discuss some controversies with a particular focus on the zebrafish tectum's role in extracting directional features from moving visual scenes.
authors.affiliation: Institut Curie, Centre de Recherche Paris, France ; CNRS UMR 3215 Paris, France ; INSERM U934 Paris, France.
authors.forename: Christoph
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gebhardt
authors.forename: Herwig
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Baier
authors.forename: Filippo
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Del Bene
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D007814:Larva; D009039:Motion Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D012165:Retinal Ganglion Cells / Q000502:physiology; D013477:Superior Colliculi / Q000502:physiology*; D014793:Visual Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D014795:Visual Pathways / Q000502:physiology*; D015027:Zebrafish
keywords: direction selectivity; neural circuits; optic tectum; visual system; zebrafish