Meeting Abstract

P1-91   -   Function of spiny dorsal fin erector muscles in bluegill, Lepomis macrochirus Djabakatie, Z*; Chamanlal, A; Resende Da Maia, A; Rhode Island College; Rhode Island College; Rhode Island College zdjabakatie_6649@ric.edu

Local motor control is essential to stability and is often impacted by injury and many neuromuscular disorders. Lack of sensory perception can further deteriorate one’s quality of life. The goal of this study is to use bluegill as model systems to study and gain insights on local motor control and sensory perception to improve stability and locomotion in humans in a rehabilitative state by focusing on the spiny dorsal fin. We hypothesize that 1) when exposed to turbulence, bluegill will use the spiny dorsal fin to recover stability and muscle intensity and duration will increase in the spiny dorsal fin erector muscles; 2) we expect the removal of afferent information, by injection of lidocaine, to decrease muscle intensity and duration compared to saline (control); and 3) the removal of muscle control by injection of flaxedil, a neuromuscular junction blocker, to dramatically decrease muscle intensity and duration compared to saline. Upon sedation of the bluegill, the epaxial and spine erector muscles were implanted bilaterally with electrodes, followed by injection of one of the three treatments: flaxedil, lidocaine, or buffered saline. The findings showed no effect of turbulence across treatments on magnitude, relative intensity, burst duration, cycle duration, or duty factor of erector or epaxial muscles. However, within no turbulence, lidocaine treated fish had higher muscle activity in the spiny erector muscle magnitude than the flaxedil treatment. Under no turbulence, relative intensity also decreased under flaxedil conditions. Activity bursts of spiny erector muscle were shorter under flaxedil than control under turbulent conditions. Overall, we found that in lidocaine treated fish, the erector muscles were unable to correctly modulate muscle activity, often by incorrect activation timing and that in flaxedil treated fish, erector muscle function was compromised.