Cerebral cortex is found only in mammals and most prominently present in humans. Various rodent models with fully or partially ablated cortex are commonly used to probe the role of cortex in brain functions and its multiple subcortical projections, including pallium, thalamus and the limbic system. Various rodent models are traditionally used to study the role of cortex in brain functions. A small teleost fish, the zebrafish (), has gained popularity in neuroscience research, and albeit (like other fishes), lacks cortex, its brain performs well some key functions (e.g., memory, consciousness and motivation) within complex, context-specific and well-defined behaviors. Can rodent and zebrafish models help generate insights into the role of cortex in the brain functions, and dissect its cortex-specific (vs. non-cortical) functions? To address this conceptual question, here we evaluate brain functionality in intact vs. decorticated rodents and further compare it in the zebrafish, a naturally occurring acortical species. Overall, comparing cortical and acortical rodent models with naturally acortical zebrafish reveals both distinct and overlapping contributions of neocortex and ‘precortical’ zebrafish telencephalic regions in higher brain functions. Albeit morphologically different, mammalian neocortex and fish pallium may possess more functional similarities than is presently recognized, calling for further integrative research in both cortical and decorticated/acortical vertebrate model organisms.

中文翻译：

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我们能否从无皮质啮齿动物和天然无皮质斑马鱼模型中获得对大脑皮层功能作用的转化见解？

大脑皮层仅存在于哺乳动物中，并且最明显地存在于人类中。各种皮质完全或部分消融的啮齿动物模型通常用于探测皮质在大脑功能中的作用及其多个皮质下投射，包括大脑皮层、丘脑和边缘系统。传统上使用各种啮齿动物模型来研究皮层在大脑功能中的作用。一种小型硬骨鱼斑马鱼在神经科学研究中广受欢迎，尽管（与其他鱼类一样）缺乏皮质，但其大脑在复杂的、特定环境中表现良好的一些关键功能（例如记忆、意识和动机）和明确的行为。啮齿动物和斑马鱼模型能否帮助深入了解皮层在大脑功能中的作用，并剖析其皮层特异性（与非皮层）功能？为了解决这个概念性问题，我们在这里评估了完整与去皮啮齿动物的大脑功能，并进一步在斑马鱼（一种自然存在的无皮质物种）中进行比较。总体而言，将皮质和无皮质啮齿动物模型与天然无皮质斑马鱼进行比较，揭示了新皮质和“皮质前”斑马鱼端脑区域在高级大脑功能中的独特和重叠贡献。尽管在形态上不同，哺乳动物新皮质和鱼类大脑皮层可能具有比目前认识到的更多的功能相似性，需要对皮质和去皮/皮质脊椎动物模型生物体进行进一步的综合研究。