慕尼黑工业大学Ruben Portugues团队取得一项新突破。他们研制了斑马鱼罗盘神经元的塑料地标锚定。相关论文于2026年1月7日发表在《自然》杂志上。

在这里，课题组研究人员询问最近在斑马鱼幼体（最小的脊椎动物模型之一）中发现的HD细胞是否以及如何包含视觉信息。通过将双光子显微镜与全景虚拟现实设置相结合，课题组人员证明了斑马鱼高清细胞可以可靠地跟踪多个视觉场景的方向，同时利用视觉地标和光流线索。标记线索和航向估计之间的映射在鱼类中是特殊的，并且依赖于经验。

此外，研究小组还发现，标记跟踪需要从缰状核向核间核的侧向投影，核间核是由HD神经元过程支配的结构。生理和形态学上的相似之处表明，一种类似于蝇环神经元的Hebbian机制在缰核轴突中起作用。总的来说，他们观察到斑马鱼幼虫的后脑HD细胞可以利用视觉线索，尽管缺乏复杂的视觉端脑，这为脊椎动物导航电路的进化提供了新的线索。

据了解，视觉可以指导动物在环境中导航。地标可以主题化以保持航向，而光流可以集成来估计转弯。尽管已经有研究表明，不同物种的头部方向（HD）神经元主导这些视觉线索，但脊椎动物中这一过程的电路机制尚不清楚。

附：英文原文

Title: Plastic landmark anchoring in zebrafish compass neurons

Author: Tanaka, Ryosuke, Portugues, Ruben

Issue&Volume: 2026-01-07

Abstract: Vision can inform animals as they navigate their environment. Landmarks can be used to maintain heading, while optic flow can be integrated to estimate turning. Although it has been shown that head direction (HD) neurons in various species use these visual cues1,2, the circuit mechanisms underlying this process in vertebrates remain unknown. Here we asked whether and how the recently identified HD cells in the larval zebrafish3, one of the smallest vertebrate models, incorporate visual information. By combining two-photon microscopy with a panoramic virtual reality setup, we demonstrate that the zebrafish HD cells can reliably track the orientation of multiple visual scenes, exploiting both visual landmarks and optic flow cues. The mapping between landmark cues and heading estimates is idiosyncratic across fish and experience dependent. Furthermore, we show that landmark tracking requires the lateralized projection from the habenula to the interpeduncular nucleus4, a structure innervated by HD neuron processes3. The physiological and morphological parallels suggest that a Hebbian mechanism similar to the fly ring neurons5,6 is at work in the habenula axons. Overall, our observation that hindbrain HD cells of larval zebrafish can utilize the visual cues despite the lack of an elaborate visual telencephalon sheds new light on the evolution of navigation circuitry in vertebrates.

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-025-09888-x

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09888-x