The Development and Role of Peripheral Auditory

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The Development and Role of Peripheral Auditory Western Kentucky University TopSCHOLAR® Masters Theses & Specialist Projects Graduate School 11-2009 The evelopmeD nt and Role of Peripheral Auditory Structures in Otocinclus affinis Sri Kiran Kumar Reddy Botta Western Kentucky University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.wku.edu/theses Part of the Behavior and Ethology Commons, Biology Commons, Other Animal Sciences Commons, and the Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology Commons Recommended Citation Botta, Sri Kiran Kumar Reddy, "The eD velopment and Role of Peripheral Auditory Structures in Otocinclus affinis" (2009). Masters Theses & Specialist Projects. Paper 128. http://digitalcommons.wku.edu/theses/128 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by TopSCHOLAR®. It has been accepted for inclusion in Masters Theses & Specialist Projects by an authorized administrator of TopSCHOLAR®. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE DEVELOPMENT AND ROLE OF PERIPHERAL AUDITORY STRUCTURES IN OTOCINCLUS AFFINIS A Thesis Presented to The Faculty of the Department of Biology Western Kentucky University Bowling Green, Kentucky In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Science By Sri Kiran Kumar Reddy Botta December 2009 THE DEVELOPMENT AND ROLE OF PERIPHERAL AUDITORY STRUCTURES IN OTOCINCLUS AFFINIS Date Recommended 23rd Nov 2009 Michael E. Smith_____ Director of Thesis ____ Claire A. Rinehart____ __ Nancy A. Rice______ _____________________________________ Dean, Graduate Studies and Research Date ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all, I like to convey loving gratitude to my parents. Without their support, I may not be in the position where I am now. I would like to thank Dr. Michael E. Smith, who has always been friendly, helpful and supportive in many situations and made me understand the theme and complete my thesis on time. I am grateful to be graduating under his advising. I am thankful for his patience in thesis correction and with my language. I would also like to thank my graduate committee members Dr. Claire Rinehart and Dr. Nancy Rice for being kind and for their helpful comments on my thesis. I would also like to thank the Dean of the Graduate studies, Dr. Richard Bowker and all the Biology departmental staff for their constant support. I would like to thank Dr. John Andersland for helping me with microscopy and giving suggestions throughout my Master’s study. I like to thank to my lab mates, friends and other graduate students for their help and moral support. Last but not least, I like to thank Western Kentucky University for giving me pleasant memories during my stay in Bowling Green. Finally I would like to thank God for every thing he has given me so far. i TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE CHAPTER 1….………………………………………………………………………..3-8 Introduction.…………………………………………………………………………….3 CHAPTER 2…………………………………………… …………………………....9-26 Introduction……………………………………………………………………………..9 Material and Methods….………………………………………………………………11 Results.…………………………………………………………………………………13 Discussion…..…………………………………………………………………………..23 CHAPTER 3…..……………………………………………………………………..27-44 Introduction….…………………………………………………………………………27 Material and Methods…..………………………………………………………………30 Results.…………………………………………………………………………………34 Discussion…..…………………………………………………………………………..41 REFERENCES..……………………………………………………………...................45 ii LIST OF FIGURES Page 1: Peripheral and inner ear auditory structures of an otophysan fish ……….………..…...7 2: Peripheral and inner ear of Pterygoplichthys gibbiceps …………………...…………..8 3: Development series of Otocinclus affinis used in this study .………………………...16 4: Live 5.25 mm TL O. affinis showing the skull region ……………………………….17 5: Compound pterotic bone in 7.5 & 12 mm TL O. affinis ..……………………..……..18 6: Dorsal and lateral view of 12 mm TL O. affinis ………….……….………………....19 7: Dorsal view and drawing of an adult O. affinis ……….....…….……..………………20 8: Lateral view and drawing of an adult O. affinis ………………………………..….....21 9: Pectoral spine connection to the compound pterotic bone in O. affinis ………….…..22 10: X-ray image of O. affinis with inflated and deflated swim bladder ….……………..36 11: Audiograms of O. affinis with inflated (control) and deflated swim bladders .……..37 12: Threshold shifts resulting from swim bladder deflation ………………...…………..38 13: Audiograms of O. affinis with non covered (control) and covered fenestrae ..……...39 14: Threshold shifts resulting from fenestrae covering ………….……………………...40 iii THE DEVELOPMENT AND ROLE OF PERIPHERAL AUDITORY STRUCTURES IN OTOCINCLUS AFFINIS Sri Kiran Kumar Reddy Botta December 2009 50 Pages Directed by: Michael E. Smith, Claire A. Rinehart, and Nancy A. Rice Department of Biology Western Kentucky University Loricariidae is a very diverse family of catfishes found primarily in the Amazon River basin. These catfishes have a unique characteristic feature of having fenestrae (holes) in the skull region (compound pterotic bone) adjacent to their bi-lobed swim bladder. Since the swim bladders and the compound pterotic may act as an external ear for hearing in this taxon, I hypothesized that these swim bladders structures have an acoustical functional in the loricariid Otocinclus affinis. In order to understand the development of these structures in O. affinis, I first monitored the ontogeny of the compound pterotic bone by clearing and staining of fish ranging total length from 0.75 to 3.5 cm. the swim bladders and fenestrated compound pterotic bone were developed at early larval stages (by 5.25 mm TL). Second I examined the role of swim bladders in hearing in adult O. affinis, by testing the hearing sensitivity before and after swim bladder deflation. Hearing thresholds were determined electrophysiologically by recording auditory evoked potentials (AEP). Swim bladder deflation increased hearing thresholds by 19 – 23 decibels (dB). I then tested the role of the compound pterotic bone fenestrae in hearing by covering them with a tissue adhesive (n-butyl cyanoacrylate) and recording iv the hearing thresholds. Covering fenestrae increased hearing thresholds by 4 – 11 dB. Future experiments are required to more precisely determine the acoustical role of these peripheral auditory structures in O. affinis. v CHAPTER 1 Introduction: Since sound travels approximately five times faster in water than air, acoustic communication is a very effective way to communicate under water. Fishes have evolved the capability to both hear and generate sounds for communication. The auditory structures and hearing evolved in fishes several millions of years ago, and it is thought that the sense of hearing first evolved in fishes (Popper and Fay, 1998). As a result, the organs present inside the body of fish are homologous to those of present day mammals. There is a considerable amount of variability in the auditory structures of fishes, but all fish ears are composed of pairs of three otolith-bearing end organs – the utricle, saccule, and lagena, as well as three semicircular canals. The inner ear consists of a membranous labyrinth divided into the pars superior (semicircular canals, utricle and ampullae) and pars inferior (sacculus and lagena) (Arratia, 2003). Sound waves travel through the fluid- filled sacs of the sacculus and lagena, they initiate movement of the otoliths present over the auditory sensory hair cells. These hair cells convert the vibration into an electrical signal and send the signal via afferent nerves of the auditory nerve to the hearing centers of the brain. Some fish taxa have unique peripheral auditory structures that enable them to hear with a greater sensitivity over a broader range of frequencies (0.1 to 10 kHz) than other teleost fishes (Ladich & Wysocki, 2003; Lechner & Ladich, 2008). Some of these fishes have modified vertebral elements, which was discovered and named after the German anatomist Ernst Heinrich Weber in 1820 (Tavolga 1971). He not only described the inner ear but also showed that the ear was connected to the swim bladder through a series of 3 4 moveable bones (tripus, intercalarium, scaphium and claustrum) connected to one another by ligaments and then connected to fluid-filled sacs (sinus impairs and canalis transverses) adjacent to the inner ear. These series of bones are called the Weberian ossicles. The Weberian apparatus is one of the unifying characteristics of the fishes in the superorder Otophysi. This group contains majority of freshwater fishes, including catfishes, minnows, loaches, characids, gymnotids and knife fishes, etc. In general, the density of a fish body is similar to the density of the surrounding water, so waterborne sound transmits directly through the fish body. Two exceptions to this are the swim bladder, which is filled with low-density gas, and the otoliths present in their ears, which are composed of a high-density calcium carbonate and protein matrix. Sound reception under water requires a transducer that is different in density from the surrounding water. In many fishes, the gas-filled swim bladder serves as such a transducer (Tavolga, 1971). When sound waves impinge upon the swim bladder, it vibrates in response to the pressure wave. In otophysan fishes, this vibration is then transmitted through the Weberian ossicles - first through the tripus, then followed by the intercalarium, scaphium and clustrum, and then on to the fluid filled sac of the cavum (sinus impar; Figure 1). These vibrations are then transferred to the endolymphatic fluid filled sac (canalis communicans) to the inner ear (Weitzman, 2005).
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