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Figure 4 | BMC Biology

Figure 4

From: Evolution of an adaptive behavior and its sensory receptors promotes eye regression in blind cavefish

Figure 4

Effects of bilateral SN ablation on VAB in cavefish. (A) Comparison of DASPEI-stained EO SN and SO-3 SN in the ablated areas. The SN present before but absent after ablation within the two ablated regions (outlined by dashed white lines) are pseudo-colored in red. The red dashes indicate the line of suborbital canal neuromasts in the head lateral line and the areas enclosed by the blue dashed lines indicate the SO-3 region; the areas between the suborbital canal lateral line (red dashes) and dashed yellow lines represent the region containing EO SN. Scale bar in (lower panel of A) is 1.0 mm. (B) Schematic drawing of the ablated areas of 10 cavefish in the EO SN ablation experiment. Each experiment was color-coded. The snout is shown at the left. The ablated area included both the EO region and a part of the SO-3 region. The suborbital canal lateral line is indicated with red line. (C) The EO SN number of cavefish prior to ablation of EO or SO-3 SN. There was no difference in EO SN number between these two groups (Z = -0.54, P = 0.614; n = 10 for EO SN ablation; n = 7 for SO-3 SN ablation). (D) VAB in cavefish before SN ablation and four to six days after SN ablation. Values are means ± s.e.m. **: P < 0.01. n.s.: not significant. Number of cavefish used were: n = 10 for EO, n = 7 for SO-3. Rod vibration at 35 Hz was used to measure VAB.

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