title: Photopic and scotopic spatiotemporal tuning of adult zebrafish vision.
abstract: Sensitivity to spatial and temporal patterns is a fundamental aspect of vision. Herein, we investigated this sensitivity in adult zebrafish for a wide range of spatial (0.014 to 0.511 cycles/degree [c/d]) and temporal frequencies (0.025 to 6 cycles/s) to better understand their visual system. Measurements were performed at photopic (1.8 log cd m(-2)) and scotopic (-4.5 log cd m(-2)) light levels to assess the optokinetic response (OKR). The resulting spatiotemporal contrast sensitivity (CS) functions revealed that the OKR of zebrafish is tuned to spatial frequency and speed but not to temporal frequencies. Thereby, optimal test parameters for CS measurements were identified. At photopic light levels, a spatial frequency of 0.116 ± 0.01 c/d (mean ± SD) and a grating speed of 8.42 ± 2.15 degrees/second (d/s) was ideal; at scotopic light levels, these values were 0.110 ± 0.02 c/d and 5.45 ± 1.31 d/s, respectively. This study allows to better characterize zebrafish mutants with altered vision and to distinguish between defects of rod and cone photoreceptors as measurements were performed under different light conditions.
authors: Department of Ophthalmology, Inselspital, University of Bern Bern, Switzerland ; Department of Ophthalmology, Basel University Hospital Basel, Switzerland.
authors: Nadine
authors: N
authors: Hollbach
authors: Department of Ophthalmology, Inselspital, University of Bern Bern, Switzerland.
authors: Christoph
authors: C
authors: Tappeiner
authors: Department of Biology, University of Fribourg Fribourg, Switzerland.
authors: Anna
authors: A
authors: Jazwinska
authors: Department of Ophthalmology, Inselspital, University of Bern Bern, Switzerland.
authors: Volker
authors: V
authors: Enzmann
authors: Department of Ophthalmology, Inselspital, University of Bern Bern, Switzerland ; Department of Ophthalmology, Basel University Hospital Basel, Switzerland.
authors: Markus
authors: M
authors: Tschopp
keywords: adult zebrafish; contrast sensitivity; optokinetic response; photopic; scotopic; spatiotemporal vision