ABSTRACT
Historically, frogs were among the first vertebrates used to study structural and functional aspects of the nervous system. Xenopus laevis in particular has developed as an ideal model for such studies, beginning with seminal work on regenerative plasticity and neurosecretory mechanisms. Progressively, Xenopus emerged as the dominating anuran species for discoveries of sensory-motor computations and circuit connectivity. This success was largely based on embryonic tissue manipulations combined with state-of-the-art physiological and behavioral assessments in tadpoles and adults. Contemporary approaches have expanded the experimental toolkit for functional analyses in the Xenopus nervous system, capitalizing on technical innovations that permit high-resolution measurements of multi-neuronal activity. Electrophysiological recordings of a large variety of neuronal phenotypes, as well as quantitative behavioral tracking of distinct motor repertoires, offer a convenient range of methods to explore defined circuits and brain regions. Coupled with the ease of manipulating Xenopus at the genetic and cellular level, neurobiological research has expanded the exploration of general processing and connectivity principles into areas related to disease conditions. In this chapter, the beneficial attributes of Xenopus and their applicability toward functional neurobiology are reviewed, with particular emphasis on in vivo and in vitro experimental approaches open to any Xenopus researcher.
