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Sanchez AN, Alitto HJ, Rathbun DL, Fisher TG, Usrey WM. Stimulus contrast modulates burst activity in the lateral geniculate nucleus. CURRENT RESEARCH IN NEUROBIOLOGY 2023; 4:100096. [PMID: 37397805 PMCID: PMC10313900 DOI: 10.1016/j.crneur.2023.100096] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/07/2022] [Revised: 06/03/2023] [Accepted: 06/08/2023] [Indexed: 07/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Burst activity is a ubiquitous feature of thalamic neurons and is well documented for visual neurons in the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN). Although bursts are often associated with states of drowsiness, they are also known to convey visual information to cortex and are particularly effective in evoking cortical responses. The occurrence of thalamic bursts depends on (1) the inactivation gate of T-type Ca2+ channels (T-channels), which become de-inactivated following periods of increased membrane hyperpolarization, and (2) the opening of the T-channel activation gate, which has voltage-threshold and rate-of-change (δv/δt) requirements. Given the time/voltage relationship for the generation of Ca2+ potentials that underlie burst events, it is reasonable to predict that geniculate bursts are influenced by the luminance contrast of drifting grating stimuli, with the null phase of higher contrast stimuli evoking greater hyperpolarization followed by a larger dv/dt than the null phase of lower contrast stimuli. To determine the relationship between stimulus contrast and burst activity, we recorded the spiking activity of cat LGN neurons while presenting drifting sine-wave gratings that varied in luminance contrast. Results show that burst rate, reliability, and timing precision are significantly greater with higher contrast stimuli compared with lower contrast stimuli. Additional analysis from simultaneous recordings of synaptically connected retinal ganglion cells and LGN neurons further reveals the time/voltage dynamics underlying burst activity. Together, these results support the hypothesis that stimulus contrast and the biophysical properties underlying the state of T-type Ca2+ channels interact to influence burst activity, presumably to facilitate thalamocortical communication and stimulus detection.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Henry J. Alitto
- Center for Neuroscience, University of California Davis, 95618, USA
| | - Daniel L. Rathbun
- Dept. of Ophthalmology, Detroit Inst. of Ophthalmology, Henry Ford Health System, Detroit, MI, 48202, USA
| | | | - W. Martin Usrey
- Center for Neuroscience, University of California Davis, 95618, USA
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Raghavan RT, Kelly JG, Hasse JM, Levy PG, Hawken MJ, Movshon JA. Contrast and Luminance Gain Control in the Macaque's Lateral Geniculate Nucleus. eNeuro 2023; 10:ENEURO.0515-22.2023. [PMID: 36858825 PMCID: PMC10035770 DOI: 10.1523/eneuro.0515-22.2023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/29/2022] [Accepted: 02/16/2023] [Indexed: 03/03/2023] Open
Abstract
There is substantial variation in the mean and variance of light levels (luminance and contrast) in natural visual scenes. Retinal ganglion cells maintain their sensitivity despite this variation using two adaptive mechanisms, which control how responses depend on luminance and on contrast. However, the nature of each mechanism and their interactions downstream of the retina are unknown. We recorded neurons in the magnocellular and parvocellular layers of the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) in anesthetized adult male macaques and characterized how their responses adapt to changes in contrast and luminance. As contrast increases, neurons in the magnocellular layers maintain sensitivity to high temporal frequency stimuli but attenuate sensitivity to low-temporal frequency stimuli. Neurons in the parvocellular layers do not adapt to changes in contrast. As luminance increases, both magnocellular and parvocellular cells increase their sensitivity to high-temporal frequency stimuli. Adaptation to luminance is independent of adaptation to contrast, as previously reported for LGN neurons in the cat. Our results are similar to those previously reported for macaque retinal ganglion cells, suggesting that adaptation to luminance and contrast result from two independent mechanisms that are retinal in origin.
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Affiliation(s)
- R T Raghavan
- Center for Neural Science, New York University, New York, New York 10003
| | - Jenna G Kelly
- Center for Neural Science, New York University, New York, New York 10003
| | - J Michael Hasse
- Center for Neural Science, New York University, New York, New York 10003
| | - Paul G Levy
- Center for Neural Science, New York University, New York, New York 10003
| | - Michael J Hawken
- Center for Neural Science, New York University, New York, New York 10003
| | - J Anthony Movshon
- Center for Neural Science, New York University, New York, New York 10003
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Li Y, Wang T, Yang Y, Dai W, Wu Y, Li L, Han C, Zhong L, Li L, Wang G, Dou F, Xing D. Cascaded normalizations for spatial integration in the primary visual cortex of primates. Cell Rep 2022; 40:111221. [PMID: 35977486 DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2022.111221] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/23/2021] [Revised: 04/19/2022] [Accepted: 07/25/2022] [Indexed: 11/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Spatial integration of visual information is an important function in the brain. However, neural computation for spatial integration in the visual cortex remains unclear. In this study, we recorded laminar responses in V1 of awake monkeys driven by visual stimuli with grating patches and annuli of different sizes. We find three important response properties related to spatial integration that are significantly different between input and output layers: neurons in output layers have stronger surround suppression, smaller receptive field (RF), and higher sensitivity to grating annuli partially covering their RFs. These interlaminar differences can be explained by a descriptive model composed of two global divisions (normalization) and a local subtraction. Our results suggest suppressions with cascaded normalizations (CNs) are essential for spatial integration and laminar processing in the visual cortex. Interestingly, the features of spatial integration in convolutional neural networks, especially in lower layers, are different from our findings in V1.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yang Li
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Tian Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China; College of Life Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Yi Yang
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Weifeng Dai
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Yujie Wu
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Lianfeng Li
- China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, Beijing 100076, China
| | - Chuanliang Han
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Lvyan Zhong
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Liang Li
- Beijing Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Beijing 100005, China
| | - Gang Wang
- Beijing Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Beijing 100005, China
| | - Fei Dou
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China; College of Life Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Dajun Xing
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.
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Gamal M, Mounier E, Eldawlatly S. On the Extraction of High-Level Visual Features from Lateral Geniculate Nucleus Activity: A Rat Study. Brain Inform 2021. [DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-86993-9_4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2022] Open
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Mason CA, Sherman SM. Editorial: Introduction to the special issue in honor of Ray Guillery. Eur J Neurosci 2020; 49:884-887. [PMID: 30968456 DOI: 10.1111/ejn.14419] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Carol A Mason
- Departments of Pathology and Cell Biology, Neuroscience, and Ophthalmology, Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
| | - S Murray Sherman
- Department of Neurobiology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
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The Augmentation of Retinogeniculate Communication during Thalamic Burst Mode. J Neurosci 2019; 39:5697-5710. [PMID: 31109958 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.2320-18.2019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/05/2018] [Revised: 05/09/2019] [Accepted: 05/10/2019] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Retinal signals are transmitted to cortex via neurons in the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN), where they are processed in burst or tonic response mode. Burst mode occurs when LGN neurons are sufficiently hyperpolarized for T-type Ca2+ channels to deinactivate, allowing them to open in response to depolarization, which can trigger a high-frequency sequence of Na+-based spikes (i.e., burst). In contrast, T-type channels are inactivated during tonic mode and do not contribute to spiking. Although burst mode is commonly associated with sleep and the disruption of retinogeniculate communication, bursts can also be triggered by visual stimulation, thereby transforming the retinal signals relayed to the cortex. To determine how burst mode affects retinogeniculate communication, we made recordings from monosynaptically connected retinal ganglion cells and LGN neurons in male/female cats during visual stimulation. Our results reveal a robust augmentation of retinal signals within the LGN during burst mode. Specifically, retinal spikes were more effective and often triggered multiple LGN spikes during periods likely to have increased T-type Ca2+ channel activity. Consistent with the biophysical properties of T-type Ca2+ channels, analysis revealed that effect magnitude was correlated with the duration of the preceding thalamic interspike interval and occurred even in the absence of classically defined bursts. Importantly, the augmentation of geniculate responses to retinal input was not associated with a degradation of visual signals. Together, these results indicate a graded nature of response mode and suggest that, under certain conditions, bursts facilitate the transmission of visual information to the cortex by amplifying retinal signals.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The thalamus is the gateway for retinal information traveling to the cortex. The lateral geniculate nucleus, like all thalamic nuclei, has two classically defined categories of spikes-tonic and burst-that differ in their underlying cellular mechanisms. Here we compare retinogeniculate communication during burst and tonic response modes. Our results show that retinogeniculate communication is enhanced during burst mode and visually evoked thalamic bursts, thereby augmenting retinal signals transmitted to cortex. Further, our results demonstrate that the influence of burst mode on retinogeniculate communication is graded and can be measured even in the absence of classically defined thalamic bursts.
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