Logo image
A Hardwired Circuit Supplemented with Endocannabinoids Encodes Behavioral Choice in Zebrafish
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

A Hardwired Circuit Supplemented with Endocannabinoids Encodes Behavioral Choice in Zebrafish

Jianren Song, Konstantinos Ampatzis, Jessica Ausborn and Abdeljabbar El Manira
Current biology, v 25(20), pp 2610-2620
19 Oct 2015
PMID: 26412127
url
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2015.08.042View
Published, Version of Record (VoR)Open Access (Publisher-Specific) Open

Abstract

Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Biology Cell Biology Life Sciences & Biomedicine Life Sciences & Biomedicine - Other Topics Science & Technology
Animals constantly make behavioral choices to facilitate moving efficiently through their environment. When faced with a threat, animals make decisions in the midst of other ongoing behaviors through a context-dependent integration of sensory stimuli. In vertebrates, the mechanisms underlying behavioral selection are poorly understood. Here, we show that ongoing swimming in zebrafish is suppressed by escape. The selection of escape over swimming is mediated by switching between two distinct motoneuron pools. A hardwired circuit mediates this switch by acting as a clutch-like mechanism to disengage the swimming motoneuron pool and engage the escape motoneuron pool. Threshold for escape initiation is lowered and swimming suppression is prolonged by endocannabinoid neuromodulation. Thus, our results reveal a novel cellular mechanism involving a hardwired circuit supplemented with endocannabinoids acting as a clutch-like mechanism to engage/disengage distinct motor pools to ensure behavioral selection and a smooth execution of motor action sequences in a vertebrate system.

Metrics

12 Record Views
31 citations in Scopus

Details

UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

This publication has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:

#3 Good Health and Well-Being

InCites Highlights

Data related to this publication, from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool:

Web of Science research areas
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Biology
Cell Biology
Logo image