Visual acuity and contrast sensitivity of adult zebrafish

Background: the aim of this study was to evaluate the visual acuity of adult zebrafish by assessing the optokinetic reflex. using a modified commercially available optomotor device (optomotry®),virtual three-dimensional gratings of variable spatial frequency or contrast were presented to adult zebrafish. in a first experiment,visual acuity was evaluated by changing the spatial frequency at different angular velocities. thereafter,contrast sensitivity was evaluated by changing the contrast level at different spatial frequencies.results: at the different tested angular velocities (10,15,20,25,and 30 d/s) and a contrast of 100%,visual acuity values ranged from 0.56 to 0.58 c/d. contrast sensitivity measured at different spatial frequencies (0.011,0.025,0.5,0.1,0.2,0.3,0.4,0.5 and 0.55 c/d) with an angular velocity of 10 d/s and 25 d/s revealed an inverted u-shaped contrast sensitivity curve. the highest mean contrast sensitivity (±sd) values of 20.49 ± 4.13 and 25.24 ± 8.89 were found for a spatial frequency of 0.05 c/d (angular velocity 10 d/s) and 0.1 c/d (angular velocity 25 d/s),respectively.conclusions: visual acuity and contrast sensitivity measurements in adult zebrafish with the optomotry® device are feasible and reveal a remarkably higher va compared to larval zebrafish and mice. © 2012 tappeiner et al.; licensee biomed central ltd.