Abstract
Large-field movements in the visual surround trigger spontaneous, compensatory eye movements known as optokinetic response (OKR) in all vertebrates. In zebrafish (Danio rerio) the OKR is well developed at 5 days post fertilization and can be used in the laboratory for screening of visual performance following genetic manipulations or pharmaceutical treatments. Several setups for measurement of the zebrafish OKR have been described. All of them are based on the presentation of moving gratings to the larva or to the adult fish. However, they differ in the way of presenting gratings and in the method of analysis. Here, we describe a detailed protocol for our newest software that enables computer-generation of the moving stripes and automatic tracking of eye movement. This protocol makes it possible to quantitatively measure OKR in both larvae and adult fishes in a fast and reliable way.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Huang YY, Neuhauss SC (2008) The optokinetic response in zebrafish and its applications. Front Biosci 13:1899–1916
Maurer CM, Huang YY, Neuhauss SC (2011) Application of zebrafish oculomotor behavior to model human disorders. Rev Neurosci 22:5–16
Henderson JW, Crosby EC (1952) An experimental study of optokinetic responses. AMA Arch Ophthalmol 47:43–54
Bergmann F et al (1963) Optokinetic nystagmus and its interaction with central nystagmus. J Physiol 168:318–331
Mitchiner JC, Pinto LH, Vanable JW Jr (1976) Visually evoked eye movements in the mouse (Mus musculus). Vision Res 16:1169–1171
Easter SS Jr (1972) Pursuit eye movements in goldfish (Carassius auratus). Vision Res 12:673–688
Carvalho P, Noltie D, Tillitt D (2002) Ontogenetic improvement of visual function in the medaka oryzias latipes based on an optomotor testing system for larval and adult fish. Anim Behav 64:1–10
Easter SS Jr, Nicola GN (1997) The development of eye movements in the zebrafish (Danio rerio). Dev Psychobiol 31:267–276
Brockerhoff SE et al (1995) A behavioral screen for isolating zebrafish mutants with visual system defects. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 92:10545–10549
Brockerhoff SE (2006) Measuring the optokinetic response of zebrafish larvae. Nat Protoc 1:2448–2451
Rinner O, Rick JM, Neuhauss SC (2005) Contrast sensitivity, spatial and temporal tuning of the larval zebrafish optokinetic response. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 46:137–142
Roeser T, Baier H (2003) Visuomotor behaviors in larval zebrafish after GFP-guided laser ablation of the optic tectum. J Neurosci 23:3726–3734
Mueller KP, Neuhauss SC (2010) Quantitative measurements of the optokinetic response in adult fish. J Neurosci Methods 186:29–34
Clark DT (1981) Visual responses in the developing zebrafish (Brachydanio rerio). University of Oregon Press, Eugene
Zou SQ et al (2010) Using the optokinetic response to study visual function of zebrafish. J Vis Exp. doi:10.3791/1742
Huang YY et al (2006) Oculomotor instabilities in zebrafish mutant belladonna: a behavioral model for congenital nystagmus caused by axonal misrouting. J Neurosci 26:9873–9880
Haug MF et al (2010) Visual acuity in larval zebrafish: behavior and histology. Front Zool 7:8
Straw AD (2008) Vision egg: an open-source library for realtime visual stimulus generation. Front Neuroinformatics 2:4
Nüsslein-Volhard C, Dahm R (2002) Zebrafish. Oxford University Press, New York
Beck JC et al (2004) Quantifying the ontogeny of optokinetic and vestibuloocular behaviors in zebrafish, medaka, and goldfish. J Neurophysiol 92:3546–3561
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2012 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
About this protocol
Cite this protocol
Huber-Reggi, S.P., Mueller, K.P., Neuhauss, S.C.F. (2012). Analysis of Optokinetic Response in Zebrafish by Computer-Based Eye Tracking. In: Weber, B., LANGMANN, T. (eds) Retinal Degeneration. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 935. Humana Press, Totowa, NJ. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-62703-080-9_10
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-62703-080-9_10
Published:
Publisher Name: Humana Press, Totowa, NJ
Print ISBN: 978-1-62703-079-3
Online ISBN: 978-1-62703-080-9
eBook Packages: Springer Protocols