Lateral Line Scene Analysis in the Purely Aquatic Frog Xenopus laevis Daudin (Pipidae).

The ability to locate and discriminate water surface waves that impinge simultaneously from multiple directions was studied in the clawed frog, Xenopus laevis. Monofrequency waves of 5-30 Hz were presented from point sources at a distance of 10 cm from the frog, unless stated otherwise, and the animal's response turn towards the wave origin examined. Two-choice conditioning with two simultaneous frontal waves at a 90-degree inter-wave angle revealed discrimination thresholds lower than 1 Hz for 10- to 20-Hz source wave frequencies. Smaller inter-wave angles resulted in larger thresholds, and no discrimination was found below 40°. If a third wave was added from behind, the frequency discrimination of the two frontal waves deteriorated, with 18 Hz being discriminated from waves differing by at least 2.75 Hz. Subjects also discriminated between two simultaneous waves of equal frequency presented from differing distances. At a distance of 10 cm, the discrimination threshold was 0.95 cm. Thus, X. laevis is capable of discriminating source distances in an overlap on the basis of wave curvatures. The detection of source directions among four, six or eight waves of equal frequency and distance was investigated by measuring the angular distribution of the response turns. Turns were significantly more closely oriented towards sources than to intermediate directions. The orientation accuracy did not degrade with the number of waves.

Dipole source encoding and tracking by the goldfish auditory system.

In goldfish and other otophysans, the Weberian ossicles mechanically link the saccule of the inner ear to the anterior swimbladder chamber (ASB). These structures are correlated with enhanced sound-pressure sensitivity and greater sensitivity at high frequencies (600-2000 Hz). However, surprisingly little is known about the potential impact of the ASB on other otolithic organs and about how auditory responses are modulated by discrete sources that change their location or orientation with respect to the ASB. In this study, saccular and lagenar nerve fiber responses and conditioned behaviors of goldfish were measured to a small, low-frequency (50 Hz) vibrating sphere (dipole) source as a function of its location along the body and its orientation with respect to the ASB. Conditioned behaviors and saccular nerve fiber activity exhibited response characteristics nearly identical to those measured from a hydrophone in the same relative position as the ASB. By contrast, response patterns from lagena fibers could not be predicted by pressure inputs to the ASB. Deflation of the ASB abolished the characteristic spatial response pattern of saccular but not lagena fibers. These results show that: (1) the lagena is not driven by ASB-mediated pressure inputs to the ear; (2) the ASB-saccule pathway dominates behavioral responsiveness, operating effectively at frequencies as low as 50 Hz; and (3) behavioral and neural (saccular) responses are strongly modulated by the position and orientation of the dipole with respect to the ASB.

Mate calling behavior of male South African clawed frogs (Xenopus laevis) is suppressed by the antiandrogenic endocrine disrupting compound flutamide.

Several environmental pollutants have been identified as antiandrogenic endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDC), with flutamide (FLU) being a model compound for this type of action. Despite impacts of EDC interfering with sexual differentiation and reproduction in amphibians, established information about suggested effects on sexual behavior is still lacking. In this study adult male Xenopus laevis were injected with human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) to initiate mate calling behavior. After one day hCG-stimulated frogs were treated via aqueous exposure over three days without and with FLU at concentrations of 10(-8) and 10(-6) M in comparison to untreated frogs. Androgen controlled mate calling behavior was recorded during the 12h dark period. At the end of exposure circulating levels of testosterone (T) and 17beta-estradiol (E2) were determined and furthermore gene expression was measured concerning reproductive biomarkers such as hypophysial luteinizing hormone (LH), follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), testicular aromatase (ARO), 5alpha reductase type 1 (SRD5alpha1) and 5alpha reductase type 2 (SRD5alpha2). Both concentrations of FLU caused a significant decrease in calling activity starting at the second day of exposure. HCG injected positive controls had elevated levels of T compared to negative control frogs while in parallel treatment with FLU did not affect significantly the hCG elevated sex steroid levels. Furthermore, hCG treatment led to significantly decreased levels of gene expression for ARO and SRD5alpha2 but no impacts were detected on LH, FSH or SRD5alpha1 mRNA levels compared to negative controls. In summary, the behavioral parameter mate calling is the most sensitive biomarker detecting antiandrogenic modes of action in this challenge-experiment indicating that this non-invasive method could markedly contribute for sensitive assessment of antiandrogenic EDC.

Auditory evoked potentials from medulla and midbrain in the clawed frog, Xenopus laevis laevis.

Auditory evoked potentials (AEPs) to clicks and tonal pulses were recorded from medulla and midbrain in Xenopus laevis laevis. They comprise three components: an initial peak (I) at 2.2-3 ms latency, a fast series of peaks (F) at 5-15 ms latency, and a slow negative wave (S) at 20-40 ms latency. In medullary recordings, the initial peak was largest, whereas in midbrain recordings typically the two other components prevailed. For all components and animals, response threshold at 4 clicks/s was approximately 69 dB SPL. In response to tonal stimuli, AEP amplitudes were maximal at 1.3-2.0 and 3.5 kHz. Raising the click rate to 100/s gradually reduced the amplitude of the I and the first F peaks, whereas later F peaks and the S wave virtually disappeared at 20-40 clicks/s. On the other hand, extending the plateau duration of tonal stimuli from 4 to 10 ms hardly affected the I and F peaks but doubled the S amplitude. This suggests two systems for stimulus processing, a fast system capable to follow clicks up to high repetition rates and a slow system with longer integration time.

Minimal model of prey localization through the lateral-line system.

The clawed frog Xenopus is an aquatic predator catching prey at night by detecting water movements caused by its prey. We present a general method, a "minimal model" based on a minimum-variance estimator, to explain prey detection through the frog's many lateral-line organs, even in case several of them are defunct. We show how waveform reconstruction allows Xenopus' neuronal system to determine both the direction and the character of the prey and even to distinguish two simultaneous wave sources. The results can be applied to many aquatic amphibians, fish, or reptiles such as crocodiles.