Investigating motion detection of aging zebrafish with optomotor response

buir.advisorKafalıgönül, Hacı Hulusi
dc.contributor.authorKaraduman, Ayşenur
dc.date.accessioned2021-08-17T12:26:31Z
dc.date.available2021-08-17T12:26:31Z
dc.date.copyright2021-07
dc.date.issued2021-07
dc.date.submitted2021-08-11
dc.descriptionCataloged from PDF version of article.en_US
dc.descriptionThesis (Ph.D.): Bilkent University, Department of Neuroscience, İhsan Doğramacı Bilkent University, 2021.en_US
dc.descriptionIncludes bibliographical references (leaves 109-141).en_US
dc.description.abstractVarious aspects of visual functioning including motion perception have been shown to be significantly altered throughout aging. Contrary to the traditional view focusing on structural changes in the eye and retina, accumulating evidence suggests that subtle alterations in neural circuitry and functioning are respon-sible for the age-related changes in visual sensitivity and perception. However, the mechanisms underlying age-related changes in motion perception are still poorly understood. This thesis was aimed to investigate the detection of first-and second-order motion direction during aging by using zebrafish optomotor re-sponses (OMR). Furthermore, exposure-based visual learning was investigated by repeated presentation of first-order motion. The studies included both wild-type and achesb55/+ zebrafish with decreased levels of acetylcholinesterase which has been previously shown to delay age-related cognitive decline. In this way, it was also aimed to explore the possible functional links between cholinergic functioning and age-related changes in visual motion processing. The results indicated that adult zebrafish mainly exhibit negative OMR (i.e., position shift in the opposite direction of visual motion) to drifting first-order gratings which is significantly dependent on spatial frequency and contrast level of the motion. Rather than an overall effect of aging, the results revealed a three-way interaction between the contrast level of first-order motion, genotype, and age. Therefore, the findings pointed out a complex relationship between the physical characteristics of first-order motion stimulation and the cholinergic system during neural aging. Contrary to the first-order motion, the second-order motion did not induce strong optomotor responses in adult zebrafish. Although young and old zebrafish exhibited OMR with different polarities (negative and positive OMR, respectively), future work revealing robust responses will be informative to better understand and characterize age-related changes. Lastly, passive exposure of repeated first-order motion induced significant improvements in negative OMR of young and old zebrafish, suggesting that adult zebrafish can be used as a model organism to study passive forms of visual perceptual learning. Overall, these behavioral results pave the way for a detailed investigation of the functional links between the physical motion characteristics and the cholinergic system in the zebrafish aging model which will ultimately have important implications for developing interventions to improve human visual performance during aging.en_US
dc.description.provenanceSubmitted by Betül Özen (ozen@bilkent.edu.tr) on 2021-08-17T12:26:30Z No. of bitstreams: 1 10412572.pdf: 21327872 bytes, checksum: c0c33818d519ec934c5c7c2f38b6e394 (MD5)en
dc.description.provenanceMade available in DSpace on 2021-08-17T12:26:31Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 10412572.pdf: 21327872 bytes, checksum: c0c33818d519ec934c5c7c2f38b6e394 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2021-07en
dc.description.statementofresponsibilityby Ayşenur Karadumanen_US
dc.format.extentxxviii, 189 leaves : illustrations (some color), charts (some color) ; 30 cm.en_US
dc.identifier.itemidB159534
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11693/76449
dc.language.isoEnglishen_US
dc.rightsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessen_US
dc.subjectAgingen_US
dc.subjectMotion detectionen_US
dc.subjectDirectionen_US
dc.subjectFirst-order motionen_US
dc.subjectSecond-order motionen_US
dc.subjectZebrafishen_US
dc.subjectAcetylcholineen_US
dc.subjectVisual perceptual learningen_US
dc.titleInvestigating motion detection of aging zebrafish with optomotor responseen_US
dc.title.alternativeYaşlanan zebra balığında hareket tespitinin optomotor yanıt ile incelenmesien_US
dc.typeThesisen_US
thesis.degree.disciplineNeuroscience
thesis.degree.grantorBilkent University
thesis.degree.levelDoctoral
thesis.degree.namePh.D. (Doctor of Philosophy)

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