Non-invasive electrophysiological recordings during escape response in larval medaka and their use as a neurotoxicity assay

Abstract

The studies described in this thesis fit within this context in two ways. First, the experiments demonstrate that certain concentrations of many chemicals may have potentially important ecological consequences via neurobehavioral effects on larval fish, even at sublethal concentrations. Second, the methods developed herein may offer clues as to how chemicals cause their effects in vivo. Are neurobehavioral effects predictable based on a chemical's mechanism of neurotoxicity? Does a toxicant's site of action (e.g. central vs. peripheral) also play an important role in observed neurobehavioral effects?