Mohamed, S. Y. | bioRxiv Science

bioRxiv2026

A Symmetric Systemic Challenge Elicits a Right-Biased Response Mediated by Vasopressin Signaling

Bilaterian animals exhibit operational (functional) asymmetry--population-level, directional left-right differences in physiology and behavior, including responses to spatially symmetric environmental challenges. Whether such symmetry-to-asymmetry conversion can be driven at the systems level by neurohormonal regulators remains unclear. Here we tested whether a spatially symmetric neuroendocrine challenge--water deprivation (WD)--can elicit a directional left-right physiological response in rats using hindlimb postural asymmetry (HL-PA), a binary readout that quantifies left- versus right-sided hindlimb flexion. Twenty-four hours of WD induced robust HL-PA with right hindlimb flexion, revealed under anesthesia. The asymmetry persisted after complete thoracic spinal cord transection, suggesting that humoral signaling, rather than descending neural commands, may maintain the postural bias. Because dehydration recruits the hypothalamic-neurohypophysial arginine vasopressin (AVP) system, we next tested AVP receptor involvement. Both a V1B antagonist (SSR-149415) and a V1A/V2 antagonist (conivaptan) abolished WD-induced HL-PA, supporting an AVP-dependent mechanism that likely operates at least two anatomical sites. AVP signaling may involve pituitary V1B-dependent endocrine output and spinal V1A actions; consistent with the latter, expression of AVP V1A receptors is right-biased in lumbar spinal cord. Together, these findings identify WD as a symmetric systemic challenge capable of imposing a directional peripheral set-point, and implicate vasopressin signaling in symmetry breaking and left-right physiological regulation. Visual summary O_FIG O_LINKSMALLFIG WIDTH=200 HEIGHT=133 SRC="FIGDIR/small/708998v1_ufig1.gif" ALT="Figure 1"> View larger version (36K): org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@10d6b3corg.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@1fb4b5aorg.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@11003c0org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@66671c_HPS_FORMAT_FIGEXP M_FIG C_FIG

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2020

Creating Clear and Informative Image-based Figures for Scientific Publications

Scientists routinely use images to display data. Readers often examine figures first; therefore, it is important that figures are accessible to a broad audience. Many resources discuss fraudulent image manipulation and technical specifications for image acquisition; however, data on the legibility and interpretability of images are scarce. We systematically examined these factors in non-blot images published in the top 15 journals in three fields; plant sciences, cell biology and physiology (n=580 papers). Common problems included missing scale bars, misplaced or poorly marked insets, images or labels that were not accessible to colorblind readers, and insufficient explanations of colors, labels, annotations, or the species and tissue or object depicted in the image. Papers that met all good practice criteria examined for all image-based figures were uncommon (physiology 16%, cell biology 12%, plant sciences 2%). We present detailed descriptions and visual examples to help scientists avoid common pitfalls when publishing images. Our recommendations address image magnification, scale information, insets, annotation, and color and may encourage discussion about quality standards for bioimage publishing.

bioinformatics↗