Negative-Valence Neurons in the Larval Zebrafish Pallium

A compact cluster of neurons in the rostrolateral dorsal pallium (Rl) of 7–9 day old zebrafish responds vigorously to strongly noxious and fully looming stimuli, but not to milder cues.

• Why it matters: Survival requires fast labeling of sensory events as harmful versus beneficial, yet pallial neural signals in larval zebrafish remain largely uncharacterized.
• What they did: Using two photon light sheet microscopy in 7–9 day old zebrafish expressing pan-neuronal GCaMP6s, calcium activity was recorded across the brain during strongly aversive and milder threat presentations.
• The result: Rl neurons show high Tiam2a expression and are linked to negative valence processing, while ventromedial pallium and habenula neurons respond to all tested stimuli.

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