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Zabegalov KN, Costa FV, Kolesnikova TO, de Abreu MS, Petersen EV, Yenkoyan KB, Kalueff AV. Can we gain translational insights into the functional roles of cerebral cortex from acortical rodent and naturally acortical zebrafish models? Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry 2024; 132:110964. [PMID: 38354895 DOI: 10.1016/j.pnpbp.2024.110964] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/12/2023] [Revised: 01/11/2024] [Accepted: 02/11/2024] [Indexed: 02/16/2024]
Abstract
Cerebral cortex is found only in mammals and is particularly prominent and developed in humans. Various rodent models with fully or partially ablated cortex are commonly used to probe the role of cortex in brain functions and its multiple subcortical projections, including pallium, thalamus and the limbic system. Various rodent models are traditionally used to study the role of cortex in brain functions. A small teleost fish, the zebrafish (Danio rerio), has gained popularity in neuroscience research, and albeit (like other fishes) lacking cortex, its brain performs well some key functions (e.g., memory, consciousness and motivation) with complex, context-specific and well-defined behaviors. Can rodent and zebrafish models help generate insights into the role of cortex in brain functions, and dissect its cortex-specific (vs. non-cortical) functions? To address this conceptual question, here we evaluate brain functionality in intact vs. decorticated rodents and further compare it in the zebrafish, a naturally occurring acortical species. Overall, comparing cortical and acortical rodent models with naturally acortical zebrafish reveals both distinct and overlapping contributions of neocortex and 'precortical' zebrafish telencephalic regions to higher brain functions. Albeit morphologically different, mammalian neocortex and fish pallium may possess more functional similarities than it is presently recognized, calling for further integrative research utilizing both cortical and decorticated/acortical vertebrate model organisms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Konstantin N Zabegalov
- Neurobiology Program, Sirius University of Science and Technology, Sochi, Russia; National Laboratory Astana, Nazarbayev University, Astana, Kazakhstan; Life Improvement by Future Technologies (LIFT) Center, LLC, Moscow, Russia
| | - Fabiano V Costa
- Neurobiology Program, Sirius University of Science and Technology, Sochi, Russia
| | | | | | | | - Konstantin B Yenkoyan
- Neuroscience Laboratory, COBRAIN Center, Yerevan State Medical University named after M. Heratsi, Yerevan, Armenia; Department of Biochemistry, Yerevan State Medical University named after M. Heratsi, Yerevan, Armenia.
| | - Allan V Kalueff
- Neurobiology Program, Sirius University of Science and Technology, Sochi, Russia; Institute of Translational Biomedicine, St. Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg, Russia; Institute of Experimental Medicine, Almazov National Medical Research Centre, Ministry of Healthcare of Russian Federation, St. Petersburg, Russia.
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Yermolenko SV, Nedzvetsky VS, Gasso VY, Spirina VA, Petrushevskyi VB, Kyrychenko VV. Low doses of imidacloprid induce neurotoxic effects in adult marsh frogs: GFAP, NfL, and angiostatin as biomarkers. REGULATORY MECHANISMS IN BIOSYSTEMS 2022. [DOI: 10.15421/022256] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Imidacloprid is one of the most widely used insecticides in the world. The neurotoxicity of imidacloprid in adult amphibians has not been studied thoroughly. We investigated the expression of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), neurofilament light chain (NfL) and angiostatin in the amphibian brain to identify valid biomarkers of low dose imidacloprid exposure. For the experiment, 30 individuals of the marsh frog Pelophylax ridibundus were selected. The amphibians were divided into five groups. The duration of the experiment was 7 and 21 days. The exposure concentrations were 10 and 100 µg/L. The results of the study revealed a decrease in the expression of GFAP after 7 days in the exposure groups of 10 and 100 μg/L. An increase in the level of NfL was observed in the group exposed to 10 μg/L after 21 days of the experiment. The angiostatin level was increased after 7 days at 10 µg/L and after 21 days at 100 µg/L. The data obtained indicate that low concentrations of imidacloprid can cause neurotoxic effects in the brain of P. ridibundus. Such effects can have a significant impact on amphibian populations. According to the results of the study of the expression level of GFAP, NfL and angiostatin, it can be stated that imidacloprid has a neurotoxic effect on adult marsh frogs. The studied indicators can be promising biomarkers of environmental pollution by neonicotinoids.
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Corona-Herrera GA, Navarrete-Ramírez P, Sanchez-Flores FA, Jimenez-Jacinto V, Martínez-Palacios CA, Palomera-Sánchez Z, Volkoff H, Martínez-Chávez CC. Shining light on the transcriptome: Molecular regulatory networks leading to a fast-growth phenotype by continuous light in an environmentally sensitive teleost (Atherinopsidae). JOURNAL OF PHOTOCHEMISTRY AND PHOTOBIOLOGY. B, BIOLOGY 2022; 235:112550. [PMID: 36049383 DOI: 10.1016/j.jphotobiol.2022.112550] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/08/2021] [Revised: 08/15/2022] [Accepted: 08/19/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Photoperiod can profoundly affect the physiology of teleost fish, including accelerated growth here defined as "fast growth phenotypes". However, molecular regulatory networks (MRNs) and biological processes being affected by continuous illumination and which allow some teleost species evident plasticity to thrive under this condition are not yet clear. Therefore, to provide a broad perspective of such mechanisms, Chirostoma estor fish were raised and sampled for growth under a simulated control (LD) 12 h Light: 12 h Dark or a continuous illumination (LL) 24 h Light: 0 h Dark since fertilization. The experiment lasted 12 weeks after hatching (wah), the time at which fish were sampled for growth, length, and whole-body cortisol levels. Additionally, 3 heads of fish from each treatment were used to perform a de novo transcriptome analysis using Next-Generation Sequencing. Fish in LL developed the fast growth phenotype with significant differences visible at 4 wah and gained 66% more mass by 12 wah than LD fish. Cortisol levels under LL were below basal levels at all times compared to fish in LD, suggesting circadian dysregulation effects. A strong effect of LL was observed in samples with a generalized down-regulation of genes except for Reactive Oxygen Species responses, genome stability, and growth biological processes. To our knowledge, this work is the first study using a transcriptomic approach to understand environmentally sensitive MRNs that mediate phenotypic plasticity in fish submitted to continuous illumination. This study gives new insights into the plasticity mechanisms of teleost fish under constant illumination.
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Affiliation(s)
- Guillermo A Corona-Herrera
- Laboratorio de Biotecnología Acuícola, Instituto de Investigaciones Agropecuarias y Forestales (IIAF), Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo, Morelia, Michoacán 58330, Mexico
| | - Pamela Navarrete-Ramírez
- CONACYT-Laboratorio de Biotecnología Acuícola, Instituto de Investigaciones Agropecuarias y Forestales (IIAF), Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo, Morelia, Michoacán, Mexico
| | - F Alejandro Sanchez-Flores
- Unidad Universitaria de Secuenciación Masiva y Bioinformática del Instituto de Biotecnología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Cuernavaca, Morelos 62210, Mexico
| | - Verónica Jimenez-Jacinto
- Unidad Universitaria de Secuenciación Masiva y Bioinformática del Instituto de Biotecnología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Cuernavaca, Morelos 62210, Mexico
| | - Carlos A Martínez-Palacios
- Laboratorio de Biotecnología Acuícola, Instituto de Investigaciones Agropecuarias y Forestales (IIAF), Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo, Morelia, Michoacán 58330, Mexico
| | - Zoraya Palomera-Sánchez
- Facultad de Medicina Veterinaria y Zootecnia, Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo, Morelia, Michoacán 58330, Mexico
| | - Helene Volkoff
- Department of Biology, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St John's A1B3X9, Canada
| | - C Cristian Martínez-Chávez
- Laboratorio de Biotecnología Acuícola, Instituto de Investigaciones Agropecuarias y Forestales (IIAF), Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo, Morelia, Michoacán 58330, Mexico.
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Axelrod CJ, Robinson BW, Laberge F. Evolutionary divergence in phenotypic plasticity shapes brain size variation between coexisting sunfish ecotypes. J Evol Biol 2022; 35:1363-1377. [PMID: 36073994 DOI: 10.1111/jeb.14085] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/01/2022] [Revised: 06/10/2022] [Accepted: 07/13/2022] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Mechanisms that generate brain size variation and the consequences of such variation on ecological performance are poorly understood in most natural animal populations. We use a reciprocal-transplant common garden experiment and foraging performance trials to test for brain size plasticity and the functional consequences of brain size variation in Pumpkinseed sunfish (Lepomis gibbosus) ecotypes that have diverged between nearshore littoral and offshore pelagic lake habitats. Different age-classes of wild-caught juveniles from both habitats were exposed for 6 months to treatments that mimicked littoral and pelagic foraging. Plastic responses in oral jaw size suggested that treatments mimicked natural habitat-specific foraging conditions. Plastic brain size responses to foraging manipulations differed between ecotypes, as only pelagic sourced fish showed brain size plasticity. Only pelagic juveniles under 1 year-old expressed this plastic response, suggesting that plastic brain size responses decline with age and so may be irreversible. Finally, larger brain size was associated with enhanced foraging performance on live benthic but not pelagic prey, providing the first experimental evidence of a relationship between brain size and prey-specific foraging performance in fishes. The recent post-glacial origin of these ecotypes suggests that brain size plasticity can rapidly evolve and diverge in fish under contrasting ecological conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Caleb J Axelrod
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada
| | - Beren W Robinson
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada
| | - Frédéric Laberge
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada
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Fasano G, Compagnucci C, Dallapiccola B, Tartaglia M, Lauri A. Teleost Fish and Organoids: Alternative Windows Into the Development of Healthy and Diseased Brains. Front Mol Neurosci 2022; 15:855786. [PMID: 36034498 PMCID: PMC9403253 DOI: 10.3389/fnmol.2022.855786] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/19/2022] [Accepted: 05/16/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The variety in the display of animals’ cognition, emotions, and behaviors, typical of humans, has its roots within the anterior-most part of the brain: the forebrain, giving rise to the neocortex in mammals. Our understanding of cellular and molecular events instructing the development of this domain and its multiple adaptations within the vertebrate lineage has progressed in the last decade. Expanding and detailing the available knowledge on regionalization, progenitors’ behavior and functional sophistication of the forebrain derivatives is also key to generating informative models to improve our characterization of heterogeneous and mechanistically unexplored cortical malformations. Classical and emerging mammalian models are irreplaceable to accurately elucidate mechanisms of stem cells expansion and impairments of cortex development. Nevertheless, alternative systems, allowing a considerable reduction of the burden associated with animal experimentation, are gaining popularity to dissect basic strategies of neural stem cells biology and morphogenesis in health and disease and to speed up preclinical drug testing. Teleost vertebrates such as zebrafish, showing conserved core programs of forebrain development, together with patients-derived in vitro 2D and 3D models, recapitulating more accurately human neurogenesis, are now accepted within translational workflows spanning from genetic analysis to functional investigation. Here, we review the current knowledge of common and divergent mechanisms shaping the forebrain in vertebrates, and causing cortical malformations in humans. We next address the utility, benefits and limitations of whole-brain/organism-based fish models or neuronal ensembles in vitro for translational research to unravel key genes and pathological mechanisms involved in neurodevelopmental diseases.
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Liu M, Jia J, Wang H, Wang L. Allometric model of brain morphology of Hemiculter leucisculus and its variation along climatic gradients. J Anat 2022; 241:259-271. [PMID: 35383914 DOI: 10.1111/joa.13664] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/03/2021] [Revised: 03/24/2022] [Accepted: 03/24/2022] [Indexed: 11/27/2022] Open
Abstract
Prior studies on Hemiculter leucisculus, which is a widespread native fish in China, mainly focused on its growth, feeding habits, and individual fecundity, but few have investigated the brain. In this research, we explored the developmental patterns of the Hemiculter leucisculus brain and found the brain showed allometry through sample time points and three age groups. At the same time, we found that the brain varied along climatic gradients. The volumes of the olfactory bulbs, telencephalic lobes, optic tectum, corpus cerebelli, and total brain in the south were larger than those in the north, while the volume of the hypothalamus in the north was larger than in the south. This study provides a view for the in-depth study of the acclimatized mechanism of the teleost brain, lays a foundation for the further study of evolutionary ecology, and provides a reference for the phenotypic plasticity of the teleost brain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mengyu Liu
- College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi, China.,Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China
| | - Jia Jia
- College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi, China
| | - He Wang
- College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi, China
| | - Lihong Wang
- College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi, China
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Montalbano G, Bertolucci C, Lucon-Xiccato T. Cognitive Phenotypic Plasticity: Environmental Enrichment Affects Learning but Not Executive Functions in a Teleost Fish, Poecilia reticulata. BIOLOGY 2022; 11:64. [PMID: 35053062 PMCID: PMC8772815 DOI: 10.3390/biology11010064] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/11/2021] [Revised: 12/21/2021] [Accepted: 12/30/2021] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Many aspects of animal cognition are plastically adjusted in response to the environment through individual experience. A remarkable example of this cognitive phenotypic plasticity is often observed when comparing individuals raised in a barren environment to individuals raised in an enriched environment. Evidence of enrichment-driven cognitive plasticity in teleost fish continues to grow, but it remains restricted to a few cognitive traits. The purpose of this study was to investigate how environmental enrichment affects multiple cognitive traits (learning, cognitive flexibility, and inhibitory control) in the guppy, Poecilia reticulata. To reach this goal, we exposed new-born guppies to different treatments: an enrichment environment with social companions, natural substrate, vegetation, and live prey or a barren environment with none of the above. After a month of treatment, we tested the subjects in a battery of three cognitive tasks. Guppies from the enriched environment learned a color discrimination faster compared to guppies from the environment with no enrichments. We observed no difference between guppies of the two treatments in the cognitive flexibility task, requiring selection of a previously unrewarded stimulus, nor in the inhibitory control task, requiring the inhibition of the attack response toward live prey. Overall, the results indicated that environmental enrichment had an influence on guppies' learning ability, but not on the remaining cognitive functions investigated.
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Affiliation(s)
- Giulia Montalbano
- Department of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, University of Ferrara, 44121 Ferrara, Italy;
| | - Cristiano Bertolucci
- Department of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, University of Ferrara, 44121 Ferrara, Italy;
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Westwick RR, Rittschof CC. Insects Provide Unique Systems to Investigate How Early-Life Experience Alters the Brain and Behavior. Front Behav Neurosci 2021; 15:660464. [PMID: 33967715 PMCID: PMC8097038 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2021.660464] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/29/2021] [Accepted: 03/16/2021] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Early-life experiences have strong and long-lasting consequences for behavior in a surprising diversity of animals. Determining which environmental inputs cause behavioral change, how this information becomes neurobiologically encoded, and the functional consequences of these changes remain fundamental puzzles relevant to diverse fields from evolutionary biology to the health sciences. Here we explore how insects provide unique opportunities for comparative study of developmental behavioral plasticity. Insects have sophisticated behavior and cognitive abilities, and they are frequently studied in their natural environments, which provides an ecological and adaptive perspective that is often more limited in lab-based vertebrate models. A range of cues, from relatively simple cues like temperature to complex social information, influence insect behavior. This variety provides experimentally tractable opportunities to study diverse neural plasticity mechanisms. Insects also have a wide range of neurodevelopmental trajectories while sharing many developmental plasticity mechanisms with vertebrates. In addition, some insects retain only subsets of their juvenile neuronal population in adulthood, narrowing the targets for detailed study of cellular plasticity mechanisms. Insects and vertebrates share many of the same knowledge gaps pertaining to developmental behavioral plasticity. Combined with the extensive study of insect behavior under natural conditions and their experimental tractability, insect systems may be uniquely qualified to address some of the biggest unanswered questions in this field.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rebecca R Westwick
- Department of Entomology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, United States
| | - Clare C Rittschof
- Department of Entomology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, United States
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Axelrod CJ, Laberge F, Robinson BW. Interspecific and intraspecific comparisons reveal the importance of evolutionary context in sunfish brain form divergence. J Evol Biol 2021; 34:639-652. [PMID: 33484022 DOI: 10.1111/jeb.13763] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/18/2020] [Revised: 12/23/2020] [Accepted: 01/11/2021] [Indexed: 01/03/2023]
Abstract
Habitats can select for specialized phenotypic characteristics in animals. However, the consistency of evolutionary responses to particular environmental conditions remains difficult to predict. One trait of great ecological importance is brain form, which is expected to vary between habitats that differ in their cognitive requirements. Here, we compared divergence in brain form and oral jaw size across a common littoral-pelagic ecological axis in two sunfishes at both the intraspecific and interspecific levels. Brain form differed between habitats at every level of comparison; however, divergence was inconsistent, despite consistent differences in oral jaw size. Pumpkinseed and bluegill species differed in cerebellum, optic tectum and olfactory bulb size. These differences are consistent with a historical ecological divergence because they did not manifest between littoral and pelagic ecotypes within either species, suggesting constraints on changes to these regions over short evolutionary time scales. There were also differences in brain form between conspecific ecotypes, but they were inconsistent between species. Littoral pumpkinseed had larger brains than their pelagic counterpart, and littoral bluegill had smaller telencephalons than their pelagic counterpart. Inconsistent brain form divergence between conspecific ecotypes of pumpkinseed and bluegill sharing a common littoral-pelagic habitat axis suggests that contemporary ecological conditions and historic evolutionary context interact to influence evolutionary changes in brain form in fishes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Caleb J Axelrod
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada
| | - Frédéric Laberge
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada
| | - Beren W Robinson
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada
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Louail M. Feeding strategies and associated cognitive capacities among Plio-Pleistocene hominins: toward new perspectives using the ventromedial prefrontal cortex. REVUE DE PRIMATOLOGIE 2020. [DOI: 10.4000/primatologie.7157] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
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