Tran, Anh C.2009-06-292009-06-292009-04-08https://hdl.handle.net/11299/51680Additional contributors: John Eian; Katie Fallen; Mark Masino (faculty mentor).The zebrafish larvae is a good model system for investigating the neural circuitry underlying rhythmic patterns of behavior, such as swimming, using techniques like electrophysiology, genetics, and optical imaging. Studies have shown that rhythmic motor patterns are evoked by the application of the excitatory amino acid agonist N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) to spinalized zebrafish larvae at 3 days post-fertilization. In the present study, we utilized an intact preparation to monitor the motor activity in peripheral nerves using extracellular recording techniques. The fictive motor patterns induced by the application of NMDA was examined in wild type zebrafish (4-6 days post-fertilization) paralyzed with alpha-bungarotoxin. To determine the optimal concentration of NMDA required to induce rhythmic swimming behavior, we established a dose-response-curve ranging from 25 uM to 100 uM. We found that NMDA concentrations around 80 uM was most effective at evoking rhythmic patterns of swimming behavior. In addition, bout frequency was also found to be dose-dependent while other basic properties of the motor pattern, such as bout duration, burst frequency, cycle period, burst duration, and duty cycle, were dose-dependent.en-USCollege of Biological SciencesNeuroscienceCollege of Liberal ArtsPsychologyAcademic Health CenterDepartment of NeurosciencePresentation