Ocean acidification slows retinal function in a damselfish through interference with GABAA receptors

• Published in: Journal of Experimental Biology
• Main Authors: Chung, Wen-Sung, Marshall, N. Justin, Watson, Sue-Ann, Munday, Philip L., Nilsson, Goran E.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: The Company of Biologists Ltd. 2014
• Subjects: Carbon dioxide; Coral reef; Electroretinogram; Flicker fusion frequency; Vision; 1103 Clinical Sciences; 1104 Complementary and Alternative Medicine; 1105 Dentistry; 1109 Neurosciences; 1312 Molecular Biology; 1314 Physiology; Ocean acidification
• Online Access: https://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:324596

Vision is one of the most efficient senses used by animals to catch prey and avoid predators. Therefore, any deficiency in the visual system could have important consequences for individual performance. We examined the effect of CO2 levels projected to occur by the end of this century on retinal responses in a damselfish, by determining the threshold of its flicker electroretinogram (fERG). The maximal flicker frequency of the retina was reduced by continuous exposure to elevated CO2, potentially impairing the capacity of fish to react to fast events. This effect was rapidly counteracted by treatment with a GABA antagonist (gabazine), indicating that GABAA receptor function is disrupted by elevated CO2. In addition to demonstrating the effects of elevated CO2 on fast flicker fusion of marine fishes, our results show that the fish retina could be a model system to study the effects of high CO2 on neural processing.