Understanding interactions between networks controlling distinct behaviours: Escape and swimming in larval zebrafish

摘要

Spinal neural networks in larval zebrafish generate a variety of movements such as escape, struggling, and swimming. There have been a number of untested proposals regarding possible mechanisms at both the network and neural levels to account for switches between these behaviours. However, there are currently no detailed demonstrations of such mechanisms, so it is not possible to determine which are plausible and which are not. Here we propose a detailed, biologically plausible model of the interactions between the swimming and escape networks in the larval zebrafish. This model shows how distinct behaviours can be controlled by anatomically overlapping networks. More generally, this paper demonstrates a method for constructing spiking networks consistent with both high-level behavioural descriptions and available neural data.