1
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Hoppe M, Spratte C, Hanke FD, Sørensen K. Single target acuity for moving targets in the common sunfish (Lepomis gibbosus). Biol Open 2024; 13:bio060455. [PMID: 38738649 PMCID: PMC11179713 DOI: 10.1242/bio.060455] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/02/2024] [Accepted: 05/07/2024] [Indexed: 05/14/2024] Open
Abstract
The common sunfish (Lepomis gibbosus) likely relies on vision for many vital behaviors that require the perception of small objects such as detection of prey items or body marks of conspecifics. A previous study documented the single target acuity (STA) for stationary targets. Under many, if not most, circumstances, however, objects of interest are moving, which is why the current study tested the effect of the ecologically relevant parameter motion on sunfish STA. The STA was determined in two sunfish for targets moving randomly at a velocity of 3.4 deg/s. The STA for moving targets (0.144±0.002 deg) was equal to the STA for stationary targets obtained from the same fish individuals under the experimental conditions of this/the previous study. Our results contribute to a comprehensive understanding of fish vision, extending the large data set available on grating acuity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marius Hoppe
- Institute for Biosciences, Neuroethology, University of Rostock, Albert-Einstein-Str. 3, 18059 Rostock, Germany
| | - Caroline Spratte
- Institute for Biosciences, Neuroethology, University of Rostock, Albert-Einstein-Str. 3, 18059 Rostock, Germany
| | - Frederike D Hanke
- Institute for Biosciences, Neuroethology, University of Rostock, Albert-Einstein-Str. 3, 18059 Rostock, Germany
| | - Kenneth Sørensen
- Institute for Biosciences, Neuroethology, University of Rostock, Albert-Einstein-Str. 3, 18059 Rostock, Germany
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2
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Joris PX, Verschooten E. Midbrain sensitivity to auditory motion studied with dichotic sweeps of broadband noise. Hear Res 2024; 450:109066. [PMID: 38889563 DOI: 10.1016/j.heares.2024.109066] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/01/2024] [Revised: 05/18/2024] [Accepted: 06/02/2024] [Indexed: 06/20/2024]
Abstract
Many neurons in the central nucleus of the inferior colliculus (IC) show sensitivity to interaural time differences (ITDs), which is thought to be relayed from the brainstem. However, studies with interaural phase modulation of pure tones showed that IC neurons have a sensitivity to changes in ITD that is not present at the level of the brainstem. This sensitivity has been interpreted as a form of sensitivity to motion. A new type of stimulus is used here to study the sensitivity of IC neurons to dynamic changes in ITD, in which broad- or narrowband stimuli are swept through a range of ITDs with arbitrary start-ITD, end-ITD, speed, and direction. Extracellular recordings were obtained under barbiturate anesthesia in the cat. We applied the same analyses as previously introduced for the study of responses to tones. We find effects of motion which are similar to those described in response to interaural phase modulation of tones. The size of the effects strongly depended on the motion parameters but was overall smaller than reported for tones. We found that the effects of motion could largely be explained by the temporal response pattern of the neuron such as adaptation and build-up. Our data add to previous evidence questioning true coding of motion at the level of the IC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Philip X Joris
- Lab. of Auditory Neurophysiology, KU Leuven, Herestraat 49 B-3000 Leuven, Belgium; Dept. of Neuroscience, UW-Madison, 111 Highland Avenue, Madison, WI 53705-2275, USA.
| | - Eric Verschooten
- Lab. of Auditory Neurophysiology, KU Leuven, Herestraat 49 B-3000 Leuven, Belgium
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3
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DePiero VJ, Deng Z, Chen C, Savier EL, Chen H, Wei W, Cang J. Transformation of Motion Pattern Selectivity from Retina to Superior Colliculus. J Neurosci 2024; 44:e1704232024. [PMID: 38569924 PMCID: PMC11097260 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.1704-23.2024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/11/2023] [Revised: 03/07/2024] [Accepted: 03/26/2024] [Indexed: 04/05/2024] Open
Abstract
The superior colliculus (SC) is a prominent and conserved visual center in all vertebrates. In mice, the most superficial lamina of the SC is enriched with neurons that are selective for the moving direction of visual stimuli. Here, we study how these direction selective neurons respond to complex motion patterns known as plaids, using two-photon calcium imaging in awake male and female mice. The plaid pattern consists of two superimposed sinusoidal gratings moving in different directions, giving an apparent pattern direction that lies between the directions of the two component gratings. Most direction selective neurons in the mouse SC respond robustly to the plaids and show a high selectivity for the moving direction of the plaid pattern but not of its components. Pattern motion selectivity is seen in both excitatory and inhibitory SC neurons and is especially prevalent in response to plaids with large cross angles between the two component gratings. However, retinal inputs to the SC are ambiguous in their selectivity to pattern versus component motion. Modeling suggests that pattern motion selectivity in the SC can arise from a nonlinear transformation of converging retinal inputs. In contrast, the prevalence of pattern motion selective neurons is not seen in the primary visual cortex (V1). These results demonstrate an interesting difference between the SC and V1 in motion processing and reveal the SC as an important site for encoding pattern motion.
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Affiliation(s)
- Victor J DePiero
- Department of Biology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia 22904
- Department of Psychology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia 22904
| | - Zixuan Deng
- Committee on Neurobiology, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637
| | - Chen Chen
- Department of Psychology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia 22904
| | - Elise L Savier
- Department of Biology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia 22904
- Department of Physiology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109
| | - Hui Chen
- Department of Biology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia 22904
- Department of Psychology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia 22904
| | - Wei Wei
- Department of Neurobiology, Neuroscience Institute, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637
| | - Jianhua Cang
- Department of Biology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia 22904
- Department of Psychology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia 22904
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4
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Saeedi A, Wang K, Nikpourian G, Bartels A, Logothetis NK, Totah NK, Watanabe M. Brightness illusions drive a neuronal response in the primary visual cortex under top-down modulation. Nat Commun 2024; 15:3141. [PMID: 38653975 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-46885-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/09/2022] [Accepted: 03/13/2024] [Indexed: 04/25/2024] Open
Abstract
Brightness illusions are a powerful tool in studying vision, yet their neural correlates are poorly understood. Based on a human paradigm, we presented illusory drifting gratings to mice. Primary visual cortex (V1) neurons responded to illusory gratings, matching their direction selectivity for real gratings, and they tracked the spatial phase offset between illusory and real gratings. Illusion responses were delayed compared to real gratings, in line with the theory that processing illusions requires feedback from higher visual areas (HVAs). We provide support for this theory by showing a reduced V1 response to illusions, but not real gratings, following HVAs optogenetic inhibition. Finally, we used the pupil response (PR) as an indirect perceptual report and showed that the mouse PR matches the human PR to perceived luminance changes. Our findings resolve debates over whether V1 neurons are involved in processing illusions and highlight the involvement of feedback from HVAs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alireza Saeedi
- Department of Physiology of Cognitive Processes, Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, 72076, Tübingen, Germany
- Research Group Neurobiology of Magnetoreception, Max Planck Institute for Neurobiology of Behavior - caesar, 53175, Bonn, Germany
| | - Kun Wang
- Department of Physiology of Cognitive Processes, Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, 72076, Tübingen, Germany
- Department of Physiology of Cognitive Processes, International Center for Primate Brain Research, Songjiang District, Shanghai, 201602, China
| | - Ghazaleh Nikpourian
- Department of Physiology of Cognitive Processes, Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, 72076, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Andreas Bartels
- Department of Physiology of Cognitive Processes, Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, 72076, Tübingen, Germany
- Department of Psychology, Vision and Cognition Lab, Centre for Integrative Neuroscience, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
- Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Nikos K Logothetis
- Department of Physiology of Cognitive Processes, Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, 72076, Tübingen, Germany
- Department of Physiology of Cognitive Processes, International Center for Primate Brain Research, Songjiang District, Shanghai, 201602, China
- Centre for Imaging Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester, M139PT, UK
| | - Nelson K Totah
- Department of Physiology of Cognitive Processes, Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, 72076, Tübingen, Germany.
- Helsinki Institute of Life Science (HILIFE), University of Helsinki, 00014, Helsinki, Finland.
- Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Helsinki, 00014, Helsinki, Finland.
- Neuroscience Center, University of Helsinki, 00014, Helsinki, Finland.
| | - Masataka Watanabe
- Department of Physiology of Cognitive Processes, Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, 72076, Tübingen, Germany.
- Department of Systems Innovation, School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
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5
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Roy S, Yao X, Rathinavelu J, Field GD. GABAergic Inhibition Controls Receptive Field Size, Sensitivity, and Contrast Preference of Direction Selective Retinal Ganglion Cells Near the Threshold of Vision. J Neurosci 2024; 44:e1979232023. [PMID: 38182419 PMCID: PMC10941243 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.1979-23.2023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/19/2023] [Revised: 12/13/2023] [Accepted: 12/21/2023] [Indexed: 01/07/2024] Open
Abstract
Information about motion is encoded by direction-selective retinal ganglion cells (DSGCs). These cells reliably transmit this information across a broad range of light levels, spanning moonlight to sunlight. Previous work indicates that adaptation to low light levels causes heterogeneous changes to the direction tuning of ON-OFF (oo)DSGCs and suggests that superior-preferring ON-OFF DSGCs (s-DSGCs) are biased toward detecting stimuli rather than precisely signaling direction. Using a large-scale multielectrode array, we measured the absolute sensitivity of ooDSGCs and found that s-DSGCs are 10-fold more sensitive to dim flashes of light than other ooDSGCs. We measured their receptive field (RF) sizes and found that s-DSGCs also have larger receptive fields than other ooDSGCs; however, the size difference does not fully explain the sensitivity difference. Using a conditional knock-out of gap junctions and pharmacological manipulations, we demonstrate that GABA-mediated inhibition contributes to the difference in absolute sensitivity and receptive field size at low light levels, while the connexin36-mediated gap junction coupling plays a minor role. We further show that under scotopic conditions, ooDSGCs exhibit only an ON response, but pharmacologically removing GABA-mediated inhibition unmasks an OFF response. These results reveal that GABAergic inhibition controls and differentially modulates the responses of ooDSGCs under scotopic conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Suva Roy
- Department of Ophthalmology, Jules Stein Eye Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095
| | - Xiaoyang Yao
- Department of Neurobiology, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, North Carolina 27710
| | - Jay Rathinavelu
- Department of Neurobiology, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, North Carolina 27710
| | - Greg D Field
- Department of Ophthalmology, Jules Stein Eye Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095
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6
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Li Y, Yu S, Jia X, Qiu X, He J. Defining morphologically and genetically distinct GABAergic/cholinergic amacrine cell subtypes in the vertebrate retina. PLoS Biol 2024; 22:e3002506. [PMID: 38363811 PMCID: PMC10914270 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3002506] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/06/2023] [Revised: 03/05/2024] [Accepted: 01/18/2024] [Indexed: 02/18/2024] Open
Abstract
In mammals, retinal direction selectivity originates from GABAergic/cholinergic amacrine cells (ACs) specifically expressing the sox2 gene. However, the cellular diversity of GABAergic/cholinergic ACs of other vertebrate species remains largely unexplored. Here, we identified 2 morphologically and genetically distinct GABAergic/cholinergic AC types in zebrafish, a previously undescribed bhlhe22+ type and a mammalian counterpart sox2+ type. Notably, while sole sox2 disruption removed sox2+ type, the codisruption of bhlhe22 and bhlhe23 was required to remove bhlhe22+ type. Also, both types significantly differed in dendritic arbors, lamination, and soma position. Furthermore, in vivo two-photon calcium imaging and the behavior assay suggested the direction selectivity of both AC types. Nevertheless, the 2 types showed preferential responses to moving bars of different sizes. Thus, our findings provide new cellular diversity and functional characteristics of GABAergic/cholinergic ACs in the vertebrate retina.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yan Li
- Institute of Neuroscience, State Key Laboratory of Neuroscience, Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Shuguang Yu
- Institute of Neuroscience, State Key Laboratory of Neuroscience, Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Xinling Jia
- Institute of Neuroscience, State Key Laboratory of Neuroscience, Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China
| | - Xiaoying Qiu
- Institute of Neuroscience, State Key Laboratory of Neuroscience, Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China
| | - Jie He
- Institute of Neuroscience, State Key Laboratory of Neuroscience, Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China
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7
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Yoshimatsu T, Baden T. New twists in the evolution of retinal direction selectivity. PLoS Biol 2024; 22:e3002538. [PMID: 38422167 PMCID: PMC10903858 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3002538] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/02/2024] Open
Abstract
In mammals, starburst amacrine cells are centrally involved in motion vision and a new study in PLOS Biology, by Yan and colleagues finds that zebrafish have them, too. They coexist with a second pair of starburst-like neurons, but neither appears to be strongly motion selective.
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Affiliation(s)
- Takeshi Yoshimatsu
- Department of the Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri, United States of America
| | - Tom Baden
- Center for Sensory Neuroscience and Computation, Sussex Neuroscience, School of Life Sciences, University of Sussex, Sussex, United Kingdom
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8
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Chang L, Ran Y, Yang M, Auferkorte O, Butz E, Hüser L, Haverkamp S, Euler T, Schubert T. Spike desensitisation as a mechanism for high-contrast selectivity in retinal ganglion cells. Front Cell Neurosci 2024; 17:1337768. [PMID: 38269116 PMCID: PMC10806099 DOI: 10.3389/fncel.2023.1337768] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/13/2023] [Accepted: 12/19/2023] [Indexed: 01/26/2024] Open
Abstract
In the vertebrate retina, several dozens of parallel channels relay information about the visual world to the brain. These channels are represented by the different types of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs), whose responses are rendered selective for distinct sets of visual features by various mechanisms. These mechanisms can be roughly grouped into synaptic interactions and cell-intrinsic mechanisms, with the latter including dendritic morphology as well as ion channel complement and distribution. Here, we investigate how strongly ion channel complement can shape RGC output by comparing two mouse RGC types, the well-described ON alpha cell and a little-studied ON cell that is EGFP-labelled in the Igfbp5 mouse line and displays an unusual selectivity for stimuli with high contrast. Using patch-clamp recordings and computational modelling, we show that a higher activation threshold and a pronounced slow inactivation of the voltage-gated Na+ channels contribute to the distinct contrast tuning and transient responses in ON Igfbp5 RGCs, respectively. In contrast, such a mechanism could not be observed in ON alpha cells. This study provides an example for the powerful role that the last stage of retinal processing can play in shaping RGC responses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Le Chang
- Institute for Ophthalmic Research, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
- Werner Reichardt Centre for Integrative Neuroscience (CIN), University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
- Key Laboratory of Primate Neurobiology, Institute of Neuroscience, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China
| | - Yanli Ran
- Institute for Ophthalmic Research, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
- Werner Reichardt Centre for Integrative Neuroscience (CIN), University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
- Key Laboratory of Preclinical Study for New Drugs of Gansu Province, and Institute of Physiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China
| | - Mingpo Yang
- Key Laboratory of Primate Neurobiology, Institute of Neuroscience, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China
| | | | - Elisabeth Butz
- Max-Planck-Institute for Brain Research, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Laura Hüser
- Max-Planck-Institute for Brain Research, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Silke Haverkamp
- Max-Planck-Institute for Brain Research, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
- Department of Computational Neuroethology, Max Planck Institute for Neurobiology of Behavior – Caesar, Bonn, Germany
| | - Thomas Euler
- Institute for Ophthalmic Research, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
- Werner Reichardt Centre for Integrative Neuroscience (CIN), University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Timm Schubert
- Institute for Ophthalmic Research, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
- Werner Reichardt Centre for Integrative Neuroscience (CIN), University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
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9
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Gaynes JA, Budoff SA, Grybko MJ, Poleg-Polsky A. Heterogeneous presynaptic receptive fields contribute to directional tuning in starburst amacrine cells. eLife 2023; 12:RP90456. [PMID: 38149980 PMCID: PMC10752589 DOI: 10.7554/elife.90456] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/28/2023] Open
Abstract
The processing of visual information by retinal starburst amacrine cells (SACs) involves transforming excitatory input from bipolar cells (BCs) into directional calcium output. While previous studies have suggested that an asymmetry in the kinetic properties of BCs along the soma-dendritic axes of the postsynaptic cell could enhance directional tuning at the level of individual branches, it remains unclear whether biologically relevant presynaptic kinetics contribute to direction selectivity (DS) when visual stimulation engages the entire dendritic tree. To address this question, we built multicompartmental models of the bipolar-SAC circuit and trained them to boost directional tuning. We report that despite significant dendritic crosstalk and dissimilar directional preferences along the dendrites that occur during whole-cell stimulation, the rules that guide BC kinetics leading to optimal DS are similar to the single-dendrite condition. To correlate model predictions to empirical findings, we utilized two-photon glutamate imaging to study the dynamics of bipolar release onto ON- and OFF-starburst dendrites in the murine retina. We reveal diverse presynaptic dynamics in response to motion in both BC populations; algorithms trained on the experimental data suggested that the differences in the temporal release kinetics are likely to correspond to heterogeneous receptive field properties among the different BC types, including the spatial extent of the center and surround components. In addition, we demonstrate that circuit architecture composed of presynaptic units with experimentally recorded dynamics could enhance directional drive but not to levels that replicate empirical findings, suggesting other DS mechanisms are required to explain SAC function. Our study provides new insights into the complex mechanisms underlying DS in retinal processing and highlights the potential contribution of presynaptic kinetics to the computation of visual information by SACs.
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Affiliation(s)
- John A Gaynes
- Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Colorado School of MedicineAuroraUnited States
| | - Samuel A Budoff
- Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Colorado School of MedicineAuroraUnited States
| | - Michael J Grybko
- Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Colorado School of MedicineAuroraUnited States
| | - Alon Poleg-Polsky
- Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Colorado School of MedicineAuroraUnited States
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10
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Prigge CL, Dembla M, Sharma A, El-Quessny M, Kozlowski C, Paisley CE, Miltner AM, Johnson TM, Della Santina L, Feller MB, Kay JN. Rejection of inappropriate synaptic partners in mouse retina mediated by transcellular FLRT2-UNC5 signaling. Dev Cell 2023; 58:2080-2096.e7. [PMID: 37557174 PMCID: PMC10615732 DOI: 10.1016/j.devcel.2023.07.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/06/2022] [Revised: 05/26/2023] [Accepted: 07/18/2023] [Indexed: 08/11/2023]
Abstract
During nervous system development, neurons choose synaptic partners with remarkable specificity; however, the cell-cell recognition mechanisms governing rejection of inappropriate partners remain enigmatic. Here, we show that mouse retinal neurons avoid inappropriate partners by using the FLRT2-uncoordinated-5 (UNC5) receptor-ligand system. Within the inner plexiform layer (IPL), FLRT2 is expressed by direction-selective (DS) circuit neurons, whereas UNC5C/D are expressed by non-DS neurons projecting to adjacent IPL sublayers. In vivo gain- and loss-of-function experiments demonstrate that FLRT2-UNC5 binding eliminates growing DS dendrites that have strayed from the DS circuit IPL sublayers. Abrogation of FLRT2-UNC5 binding allows mistargeted arbors to persist, elaborate, and acquire synapses from inappropriate partners. Conversely, UNC5C misexpression within DS circuit sublayers inhibits dendrite growth and drives arbors into adjacent sublayers. Mechanistically, UNC5s promote dendrite elimination by interfering with FLRT2-mediated adhesion. Based on their broad expression, FLRT-UNC5 recognition is poised to exert widespread effects upon synaptic partner choices across the nervous system.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cameron L Prigge
- Departments of Neurobiology, Ophthalmology, and Cell Biology, Duke University School of Medicine, Box 3802, Durham, NC 27710, USA
| | - Mayur Dembla
- Departments of Neurobiology, Ophthalmology, and Cell Biology, Duke University School of Medicine, Box 3802, Durham, NC 27710, USA
| | - Arsha Sharma
- Departments of Neurobiology, Ophthalmology, and Cell Biology, Duke University School of Medicine, Box 3802, Durham, NC 27710, USA
| | - Malak El-Quessny
- Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute and Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Christopher Kozlowski
- Departments of Neurobiology, Ophthalmology, and Cell Biology, Duke University School of Medicine, Box 3802, Durham, NC 27710, USA
| | - Caitlin E Paisley
- Departments of Neurobiology, Ophthalmology, and Cell Biology, Duke University School of Medicine, Box 3802, Durham, NC 27710, USA
| | - Adam M Miltner
- Departments of Neurobiology, Ophthalmology, and Cell Biology, Duke University School of Medicine, Box 3802, Durham, NC 27710, USA
| | - Tyler M Johnson
- Departments of Neurobiology, Ophthalmology, and Cell Biology, Duke University School of Medicine, Box 3802, Durham, NC 27710, USA
| | - Luca Della Santina
- Department of Vision Sciences, University of Houston College of Optometry, Houston, TX 77204, USA
| | - Marla B Feller
- Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute and Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Jeremy N Kay
- Departments of Neurobiology, Ophthalmology, and Cell Biology, Duke University School of Medicine, Box 3802, Durham, NC 27710, USA.
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11
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Chen J, Gish CM, Fransen JW, Salazar-Gatzimas E, Clark DA, Borghuis BG. Direct comparison reveals algorithmic similarities in fly and mouse visual motion detection. iScience 2023; 26:107928. [PMID: 37810236 PMCID: PMC10550730 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.107928] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/27/2023] [Revised: 08/07/2023] [Accepted: 09/12/2023] [Indexed: 10/10/2023] Open
Abstract
Evolution has equipped vertebrates and invertebrates with neural circuits that selectively encode visual motion. While similarities in the computations performed by these circuits in mouse and fruit fly have been noted, direct experimental comparisons have been lacking. Because molecular mechanisms and neuronal morphology in the two species are distinct, we directly compared motion encoding in these two species at the algorithmic level, using matched stimuli and focusing on a pair of analogous neurons, the mouse ON starburst amacrine cell (ON SAC) and Drosophila T4 neurons. We find that the cells share similar spatiotemporal receptive field structures, sensitivity to spatiotemporal correlations, and tuning to sinusoidal drifting gratings, but differ in their responses to apparent motion stimuli. Both neuron types showed a response to summed sinusoids that deviates from models for motion processing in these cells, underscoring the similarities in their processing and identifying response features that remain to be explained.
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Affiliation(s)
- Juyue Chen
- Interdepartmental Neurosciences Program, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA
| | - Caitlin M Gish
- Department of Physics, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA
| | - James W Fransen
- Department of Anatomical Sciences and Neurobiology, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY 40202, USA
| | | | - Damon A Clark
- Interdepartmental Neurosciences Program, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA
- Department of Physics, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA
- Department of Molecular, Cellular, Developmental Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA
- Department of Neuroscience, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA
| | - Bart G Borghuis
- Department of Anatomical Sciences and Neurobiology, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY 40202, USA
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12
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Gaynes JA, Budoff SA, Grybko MJ, Poleg-Polsky A. Heterogeneous presynaptic receptive fields contribute to directional tuning in starburst amacrine cells. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.08.02.551732. [PMID: 37577661 PMCID: PMC10418172 DOI: 10.1101/2023.08.02.551732] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 08/15/2023]
Abstract
The processing of visual information by retinal starburst amacrine cells (SACs) involves transforming excitatory input from bipolar cells (BCs) into directional calcium output. While previous studies have suggested that an asymmetry in the kinetic properties of bipolar cells along the soma-dendritic axes of the postsynaptic cell could enhance directional tuning at the level of individual branches, it remains unclear whether biologically relevant presynaptic kinetics contribute to direction selectivity when visual stimulation engages the entire dendritic tree. To address this question, we built multicompartmental models of the bipolar-SAC circuit and trained them to boost directional tuning. We report that despite significant dendritic crosstalk and dissimilar directional preferences along the dendrites that occur during whole-cell stimulation, the rules that guide BC kinetics leading to optimal directional selectivity are similar to the single-dendrite condition. To correlate model predictions to empirical findings, we utilized two-photon glutamate imaging to study the dynamics of bipolar release onto ON- and OFF-starburst dendrites in the murine retina. We reveal diverse presynaptic dynamics in response to motion in both BC populations; algorithms trained on the experimental data suggested that the differences in the temporal release kinetics are likely to correspond to heterogeneous receptive field (RF) properties among the different BC types, including the spatial extent of the center and surround components. In addition, we demonstrate that circuit architecture composed of presynaptic units with experimentally recorded dynamics could enhance directional drive but not to levels that replicate empirical findings, suggesting other DS mechanisms are required to explain SAC function. Our study provides new insights into the complex mechanisms underlying direction selectivity in retinal processing and highlights the potential contribution of presynaptic kinetics to the computation of visual information by starburst amacrine cells.
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Affiliation(s)
- John A. Gaynes
- Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO 80045, USA
| | - Samuel A. Budoff
- Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO 80045, USA
| | - Michael J. Grybko
- Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO 80045, USA
| | - Alon Poleg-Polsky
- Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO 80045, USA
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13
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Wang B, Zhang Y. Asymmetric connections with starburst amacrine cells underlie the upward motion selectivity of J-type retinal ganglion cells. PLoS Biol 2023; 21:e3002301. [PMID: 37721959 PMCID: PMC10538761 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3002301] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2022] [Revised: 09/28/2023] [Accepted: 08/17/2023] [Indexed: 09/20/2023] Open
Abstract
Motion is an important aspect of visual information. The directions of visual motion are encoded in the retina by direction-selective ganglion cells (DSGCs). ON-OFF DSGCs and ON DSGCs co-stratify with starburst amacrine cells (SACs) in the inner plexiform layer and depend on SACs for their direction selectivity. J-type retinal ganglion cells (J-RGCs), a type of OFF DSGCs in the mouse retina, on the other hand, do not co-stratify with SACs, and how direction selectivity in J-RGCs emerges has not been understood. Here, we report that both the excitatory and inhibitory synaptic inputs to J-RGCs are direction-selective (DS), with the inhibitory inputs playing a more important role for direction selectivity. The DS inhibitory inputs come from SACs, and the functional connections between J-RGCs and SACs are spatially asymmetric. Thus, J-RGCs and SACs form functionally important synaptic contacts even though their dendritic arbors show little overlap. These findings underscore the need to look beyond the neurons' stratification patterns in retinal circuit studies. Our results also highlight the critical role of SACs for retinal direction selectivity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bo Wang
- Institute of Neuroscience, Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China
| | - Yifeng Zhang
- Institute of Neuroscience, Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China
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14
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Duan W, Zhang Y, Zhang X, Yang J, Shan H, Liu L, Wei H. A Visual Pathway into Central Complex for High-Frequency Motion-Defined Bars in Drosophila. J Neurosci 2023; 43:4821-4836. [PMID: 37290936 PMCID: PMC10312062 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.0128-23.2023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/23/2023] [Revised: 05/31/2023] [Accepted: 06/02/2023] [Indexed: 06/10/2023] Open
Abstract
Relative motion breaks a camouflaged target from a same-textured background, thus eliciting discrimination of a motion-defined object. Ring (R) neurons are critical components in the Drosophila central complex, which has been implicated in multiple visually guided behaviors. Using two-photon calcium imaging with female flies, we demonstrated that a specific population of R neurons that innervate the superior domain of bulb neuropil, termed superior R neurons, encoded a motion-defined bar with high spatial frequency contents. Upstream superior tuberculo-bulbar (TuBu) neurons transmitted visual signals by releasing acetylcholine within synapses connected with superior R neurons. Blocking TuBu or R neurons impaired tracking performance of the bar, which reveals their importance in motion-defined feature encoding. Additionally, the presentation of a low spatial frequency luminance-defined bar evoked consistent excitation in R neurons of the superior bulb, whereas either excited or inhibited responses were evoked in the inferior bulb. The distinct properties of the responses to the two bar stimuli indicate there is a functional division between the bulb subdomains. Moreover, physiological and behavioral tests with restricted lines suggest that R4d neurons play a vital role in tracking motion-defined bars. We conclude that the central complex receives the motion-defined features via a visual pathway from superior TuBu to R neurons and might encode different visual features via distinct response patterns at the population level, thereby driving visually guided behaviors.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Animals could discriminate a motion-defined object that is indistinguishable with a same-textured background until it moves, but little is known about the underlying neural mechanisms. In this study, we identified that R neurons and their upstream partners, TuBu neurons, innervating the superior bulb of Drosophila central brain are involved in the discrimination of high-frequency motion-defined bars. Our study provides new evidence that R neurons receive multiple visual inputs from distinct upstream neurons, indicating a population coding mechanism for the fly central brain to discriminate diverse visual features. These results build progress in unraveling neural substrates for visually guided behaviors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wenlan Duan
- State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences Center for Excellence in Biomacromolecules, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
- College of Life Sciences, University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100039, China
| | - Yihao Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences Center for Excellence in Biomacromolecules, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
- College of Life Sciences, University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100039, China
| | - Xin Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences Center for Excellence in Biomacromolecules, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
- College of Life Sciences, University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100039, China
| | - Jihua Yang
- State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences Center for Excellence in Biomacromolecules, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
- College of Life Sciences, University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100039, China
| | - Heying Shan
- State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences Center for Excellence in Biomacromolecules, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
| | - Li Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences Center for Excellence in Biomacromolecules, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
- College of Life Sciences, University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100039, China
- Chinese Academy of Sciences Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Beijing 100101, China
| | - Hongying Wei
- State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences Center for Excellence in Biomacromolecules, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
- College of Life Sciences, University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100039, China
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15
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Zhao Y, Ke S, Cheng G, Lv X, Chang J, Zhou W. Direction Selectivity of TmY Neurites in Drosophila. Neurosci Bull 2023; 39:759-773. [PMID: 36399278 PMCID: PMC10169962 DOI: 10.1007/s12264-022-00966-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/29/2022] [Accepted: 06/29/2022] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
The perception of motion is an important function of vision. Neural wiring diagrams for extracting directional information have been obtained by connectome reconstruction. Direction selectivity in Drosophila is thought to originate in T4/T5 neurons through integrating inputs with different temporal filtering properties. Through genetic screening based on synaptic distribution, we isolated a new type of TmY neuron, termed TmY-ds, that form reciprocal synaptic connections with T4/T5 neurons. Its neurites responded to grating motion along the four cardinal directions and showed a variety of direction selectivity. Intriguingly, its direction selectivity originated from temporal filtering neurons rather than T4/T5. Genetic silencing and activation experiments showed that TmY-ds neurons are functionally upstream of T4/T5. Our results suggest that direction selectivity is generated in a tripartite circuit formed among these three neurons-temporal filtering, TmY-ds, and T4/T5 neurons, in which TmY-ds plays a role in the enhancement of direction selectivity in T4/T5 neurons.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yinyin Zhao
- Britton Chance Center for Biomedical Photonics, Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics-Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430074, China
| | - Shanshan Ke
- Britton Chance Center for Biomedical Photonics, Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics-Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430074, China
| | - Guo Cheng
- Britton Chance Center for Biomedical Photonics, Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics-Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430074, China
| | - Xiaohua Lv
- Britton Chance Center for Biomedical Photonics, Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics-Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430074, China
| | - Jin Chang
- Britton Chance Center for Biomedical Photonics, Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics-Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430074, China.
| | - Wei Zhou
- Britton Chance Center for Biomedical Photonics, Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics-Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430074, China.
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16
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Sánchez-Sáez X, Ortuño-Lizarán I, Sánchez-Castillo C, Lax P, Cuenca N. Starburst amacrine cells, involved in visual motion perception, loose their synaptic input from dopaminergic amacrine cells and degenerate in Parkinson's disease patients. Transl Neurodegener 2023; 12:17. [PMID: 37013599 PMCID: PMC10071607 DOI: 10.1186/s40035-023-00348-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/21/2022] [Accepted: 03/10/2023] [Indexed: 04/05/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND The main clinical symptoms characteristic of Parkinson's disease (PD) are bradykinesia, tremor, and other motor deficits. However, non-motor symptoms, such as visual disturbances, can be identified at early stages of the disease. One of these symptoms is the impairment of visual motion perception. Hence, we sought to determine if the starburst amacrine cells, which are the main cellular type involved in motion direction selectivity, are degenerated in PD and if the dopaminergic system is related to this degeneration. METHODS Human eyes from control (n = 10) and PD (n = 9) donors were available for this study. Using immunohistochemistry and confocal microscopy, we quantified starburst amacrine cell density (choline acetyltransferase [ChAT]-positive cells) and the relationship between these cells and dopaminergic amacrine cells (tyrosine hydroxylase-positive cells and vesicular monoamine transporter-2-positive presynapses) in cross-sections and wholemount retinas. RESULTS First, we found two different ChAT amacrine populations in the human retina that presented different ChAT immunoreactivity intensity and different expression of calcium-binding proteins. Both populations are affected in PD and their density is reduced compared to controls. Also, we report, for the first time, synaptic contacts between dopaminergic amacrine cells and ChAT-positive cells in the human retina. We found that, in PD retinas, there is a reduction of the dopaminergic synaptic contacts into ChAT cells. CONCLUSIONS Taken together, this work indicates degeneration of starburst amacrine cells in PD related to dopaminergic degeneration and that dopaminergic amacrine cells could modulate the function of starburst amacrine cells. Since motion perception circuitries are affected in PD, their assessment using visual tests could provide new insights into the diagnosis of PD.
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Grants
- FEDER-PID 2019-106230RB-I00 Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación
- FEDER-PID 2019-106230RB-I00 Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación
- FPU16/04114 Ministerio de Universidades
- RETICS-FEDER RD16/0008/0016 Instituto de Salud Carlos III
- IDIFEDER/2017/064 Conselleria de Innovación, Universidades, Ciencia y Sociedad Digital, Generalitat Valenciana
- PROMETEO/2021/024 Conselleria de Innovación, Universidades, Ciencia y Sociedad Digital, Generalitat Valenciana
- PROMETEO/2021/024 Conselleria de Innovación, Universidades, Ciencia y Sociedad Digital, Generalitat Valenciana
- APOSTD/2020/245 Conselleria de Innovación, Universidades, Ciencia y Sociedad Digital, Generalitat Valenciana
- 2019/00286/001 Es Retina Asturias
- 2019/00286/001 Es Retina Asturias
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Affiliation(s)
- Xavier Sánchez-Sáez
- Department of Physiology, Genetics and Microbiology, University of Alicante, San Vicente del Raspeig, Spain
| | - Isabel Ortuño-Lizarán
- Department of Physiology, Genetics and Microbiology, University of Alicante, San Vicente del Raspeig, Spain
| | - Carla Sánchez-Castillo
- Department of Physiology, Genetics and Microbiology, University of Alicante, San Vicente del Raspeig, Spain
| | - Pedro Lax
- Department of Physiology, Genetics and Microbiology, University of Alicante, San Vicente del Raspeig, Spain
- Alicante Institute for Health and Biomedical Research (ISABIAL), Alicante, Spain
| | - Nicolás Cuenca
- Department of Physiology, Genetics and Microbiology, University of Alicante, San Vicente del Raspeig, Spain.
- Alicante Institute for Health and Biomedical Research (ISABIAL), Alicante, Spain.
- Ramón Margalef Institute, University of Alicante, San Vicente del Raspeig, Spain.
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17
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Mu S, Turner NL, Silversmith WM, Jordan CS, Kemnitz N, Sorek M, David C, Jones DL, Bland D, Moore M, Sterling AR, Seung HS. Special nuclear layer contacts between starburst amacrine cells in the mouse retina. FRONTIERS IN OPHTHALMOLOGY 2023; 3:1129463. [PMID: 38983098 PMCID: PMC11182129 DOI: 10.3389/fopht.2023.1129463] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/22/2022] [Accepted: 03/07/2023] [Indexed: 07/11/2024]
Abstract
Starburst amacrine cells are a prominent neuron type in the mammalian retina that has been well-studied for its role in direction-selective information processing. One specific property of these cells is that their dendrites tightly stratify at specific depths within the inner plexiform layer (IPL), which, together with their unique expression of choline acetyltransferase (ChAT), has made them the most common depth marker for studying other retinal neurons in the IPL. This stratifying property makes it unexpected that they could routinely have dendrites reaching into the nuclear layer or that they could have somatic contact specializations, which is exactly what we have found in this study. Specifically, an electron microscopic image volume of sufficient size from a mouse retina provided us with the opportunity to anatomically observe both microscopic details and collective patterns, and our detailed cell reconstructions revealed interesting cell-cell contacts between starburst amacrine neurons. The contact characteristics differ between the respective On and Off starburst amacrine subpopulations, but both occur within the soma layers, as opposed to their regular contact laminae within the inner plexiform layer.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shang Mu
- Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, United States
| | - Nicholas L Turner
- Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, United States
- Computer Science Department, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, United States
| | - William M Silversmith
- Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, United States
| | - Chris S Jordan
- Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, United States
| | - Nico Kemnitz
- Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, United States
| | - Marissa Sorek
- Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, United States
| | - Celia David
- Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, United States
| | - Devon L Jones
- Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, United States
| | - Doug Bland
- Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, United States
| | - Merlin Moore
- Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, United States
| | - Amy Robinson Sterling
- Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, United States
| | - H Sebastian Seung
- Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, United States
- Computer Science Department, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, United States
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18
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Harris SC, Dunn FA. Asymmetric retinal direction tuning predicts optokinetic eye movements across stimulus conditions. eLife 2023; 12:e81780. [PMID: 36930180 PMCID: PMC10023158 DOI: 10.7554/elife.81780] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/11/2022] [Accepted: 02/02/2023] [Indexed: 03/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Across species, the optokinetic reflex (OKR) stabilizes vision during self-motion. OKR occurs when ON direction-selective retinal ganglion cells (oDSGCs) detect slow, global image motion on the retina. How oDSGC activity is integrated centrally to generate behavior remains unknown. Here, we discover mechanisms that contribute to motion encoding in vertically tuned oDSGCs and leverage these findings to empirically define signal transformation between retinal output and vertical OKR behavior. We demonstrate that motion encoding in vertically tuned oDSGCs is contrast-sensitive and asymmetric for oDSGC types that prefer opposite directions. These phenomena arise from the interplay between spike threshold nonlinearities and differences in synaptic input weights, including shifts in the balance of excitation and inhibition. In behaving mice, these neurophysiological observations, along with a central subtraction of oDSGC outputs, accurately predict the trajectories of vertical OKR across stimulus conditions. Thus, asymmetric tuning across competing sensory channels can critically shape behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Scott C Harris
- Department of Ophthalmology, University of California, San FranciscoSan FranciscoUnited States
- Neuroscience Graduate Program, University of California, San FranciscoSan FranciscoUnited States
| | - Felice A Dunn
- Department of Ophthalmology, University of California, San FranciscoSan FranciscoUnited States
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19
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Fu Q, Li Z, Peng J. Harmonizing motion and contrast vision for robust looming detection. ARRAY 2023. [DOI: 10.1016/j.array.2022.100272] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
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20
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Hanson L, Ravi-Chander P, Berson D, Awatramani GB. Hierarchical retinal computations rely on hybrid chemical-electrical signaling. Cell Rep 2023; 42:112030. [PMID: 36696265 DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2023.112030] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/25/2022] [Revised: 11/08/2022] [Accepted: 01/10/2023] [Indexed: 01/26/2023] Open
Abstract
Bipolar cells (BCs) are integral to the retinal circuits that extract diverse features from the visual environment. They bridge photoreceptors to ganglion cells, the source of retinal output. Understanding how such circuits encode visual features requires an accounting of the mechanisms that control glutamate release from bipolar cell axons. Here, we demonstrate orientation selectivity in a specific genetically identifiable type of mouse bipolar cell-type 5A (BC5A). Their synaptic terminals respond best when stimulated with vertical bars that are far larger than their dendritic fields. We provide evidence that this selectivity involves enhanced excitation for vertical stimuli that requires gap junctional coupling through connexin36. We also show that this orientation selectivity is detectable postsynaptically in direction-selective ganglion cells, which were not previously thought to be selective for orientation. Together, these results demonstrate how multiple features are extracted by a single hierarchical network, engaging distinct electrical and chemical synaptic pathways.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura Hanson
- Department of Biology, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC V8W 3N5, Canada
| | | | - David Berson
- Department of Neuroscience, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA
| | - Gautam B Awatramani
- Department of Biology, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC V8W 3N5, Canada.
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21
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Roh H, Otgondemberel Y, Eom J, Kim D, Im M. Electrically-evoked responses for retinal prostheses are differentially altered depending on ganglion cell types in outer retinal neurodegeneration caused by Crb1 gene mutation. Front Cell Neurosci 2023; 17:1115703. [PMID: 36814867 PMCID: PMC9939843 DOI: 10.3389/fncel.2023.1115703] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/04/2022] [Accepted: 01/19/2023] [Indexed: 02/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Background Microelectronic prostheses for artificial vision stimulate neurons surviving outer retinal neurodegeneration such as retinitis pigmentosa (RP). Yet, the quality of prosthetic vision substantially varies across subjects, maybe due to different levels of retinal degeneration and/or distinct genotypes. Although the RP genotypes are remarkably diverse, prosthetic studies have primarily used retinal degeneration (rd) 1 and 10 mice, which both have Pde6b gene mutation. Here, we report the electric responses arising in retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) of the rd8 mouse model which has Crb1 mutation. Methods We first investigated age-dependent histological changes of wild-type (wt), rd8, and rd10 mice retinas by H&E staining. Then, we used cell-attached patch clamping to record spiking responses of ON, OFF and direction selective (DS) types of RGCs to a 4-ms-long electric pulse. The electric responses of rd8 RGCs were analyzed in comparison with those of wt RGCs in terms of individual RGC spiking patterns, populational characteristics, and spiking consistency across trials. Results In the histological examination, the rd8 mice showed partial retinal foldings, but the outer nuclear layer thicknesses remained comparable to those of the wt mice, indicating the early-stage of RP. Although spiking patterns of each RGC type seemed similar to those of the wt retinas, correlation levels between electric vs. light response features were different across the two mouse models. For example, in comparisons between light vs. electric response magnitudes, ON/OFF RGCs of the rd8 mice showed the same/opposite correlation polarity with those of wt mice, respectively. Also, the electric response spike counts of DS RGCs in the rd8 retinas showed a positive correlation with their direction selectivity indices (r = 0.40), while those of the wt retinas were negatively correlated (r = -0.90). Lastly, the spiking timing consistencies of late responses were largely decreased in both ON and OFF RGCs in the rd8 than the wt retinas, whereas no significant difference was found across DS RGCs of the two models. Conclusion Our results indicate the electric response features are altered depending on RGC types even from the early-stage RP caused by Crb1 mutation. Given the various degeneration patterns depending on mutation genes, our study suggests the importance of both genotype- and RGC type-dependent analyses for retinal prosthetic research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hyeonhee Roh
- Brain Science Institute, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul, Republic of Korea
- School of Electrical Engineering, Korea University, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | | | - Jeonghyeon Eom
- Brain Science Institute, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul, Republic of Korea
- School of Electrical Engineering, Kookmin University, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Daniel Kim
- Brain Science Institute, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul, Republic of Korea
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Maesoon Im
- Brain Science Institute, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul, Republic of Korea
- Division of Bio-Medical Science & Technology, KIST School, University of Science and Technology, Seoul, Republic of Korea
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22
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Egelhaaf M. Optic flow based spatial vision in insects. J Comp Physiol A Neuroethol Sens Neural Behav Physiol 2023:10.1007/s00359-022-01610-w. [PMID: 36609568 DOI: 10.1007/s00359-022-01610-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/02/2022] [Revised: 12/06/2022] [Accepted: 12/24/2022] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
Abstract
The optic flow, i.e., the displacement of retinal images of objects in the environment induced by self-motion, is an important source of spatial information, especially for fast-flying insects. Spatial information over a wide range of distances, from the animal's immediate surroundings over several hundred metres to kilometres, is necessary for mediating behaviours, such as landing manoeuvres, collision avoidance in spatially complex environments, learning environmental object constellations and path integration in spatial navigation. To facilitate the processing of spatial information, the complexity of the optic flow is often reduced by active vision strategies. These result in translations and rotations being largely separated by a saccadic flight and gaze mode. Only the translational components of the optic flow contain spatial information. In the first step of optic flow processing, an array of local motion detectors provides a retinotopic spatial proximity map of the environment. This local motion information is then processed in parallel neural pathways in a task-specific manner and used to control the different components of spatial behaviour. A particular challenge here is that the distance information extracted from the optic flow does not represent the distances unambiguously, but these are scaled by the animal's speed of locomotion. Possible ways of coping with this ambiguity are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Martin Egelhaaf
- Neurobiology and Center for Cognitive Interaction Technology (CITEC), Bielefeld University, Universitätsstraße 25, 33615, Bielefeld, Germany.
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23
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Mammalian octopus cells are direction selective to frequency sweeps by excitatory synaptic sequence detection. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2022; 119:e2203748119. [PMID: 36279465 PMCID: PMC9636937 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2203748119] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Octopus cells are remarkable projection neurons of the mammalian cochlear nucleus, with extremely fast membranes and wide-frequency tuning. They are considered prime examples of coincidence detectors but are poorly characterized in vivo. We discover that octopus cells are selective to frequency sweep direction, a feature that is absent in their auditory nerve inputs. In vivo intracellular recordings reveal that direction selectivity does not derive from across-frequency coincidence detection but hinges on the amplitudes and activation sequence of auditory nerve inputs tuned to clusters of hot spot frequencies. A simple biophysical octopus cell model excited with real nerve spike trains recreates direction selectivity through interaction of intrinsic membrane conductances with the activation sequence of clustered excitatory inputs. We conclude that octopus cells are sequence detectors, sensitive to temporal patterns across cochlear frequency channels. The detection of sequences rather than coincidences is a much simpler but powerful operation to extract temporal information.
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24
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Li B, Todo Y, Tang Z, Tang C. The mechanism of orientation detection based on color-orientation jointly selective cells. Knowl Based Syst 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.knosys.2022.109715] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
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25
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Gaynes JA, Budoff SA, Grybko MJ, Hunt JB, Poleg-Polsky A. Classical center-surround receptive fields facilitate novel object detection in retinal bipolar cells. Nat Commun 2022; 13:5575. [PMID: 36163249 PMCID: PMC9512824 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-32761-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/27/2021] [Accepted: 08/16/2022] [Indexed: 11/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Antagonistic interactions between center and surround receptive field (RF) components lie at the heart of the computations performed in the visual system. Circularly symmetric center-surround RFs are thought to enhance responses to spatial contrasts (i.e., edges), but how visual edges affect motion processing is unclear. Here, we addressed this question in retinal bipolar cells, the first visual neuron with classic center-surround interactions. We found that bipolar glutamate release emphasizes objects that emerge in the RF; their responses to continuous motion are smaller, slower, and cannot be predicted by signals elicited by stationary stimuli. In our hands, the alteration in signal dynamics induced by novel objects was more pronounced than edge enhancement and could be explained by priming of RF surround during continuous motion. These findings echo the salience of human visual perception and demonstrate an unappreciated capacity of the center-surround architecture to facilitate novel object detection and dynamic signal representation. Center-surround receptive fields are typically considered to mediate edge detection. Here, by studying retinal bipolar cells responding to flashed and moving stimuli, the authors reveal an additional function: enhanced representation of newly appearing visual items.
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Affiliation(s)
- John A Gaynes
- Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO, USA
| | - Samuel A Budoff
- Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO, USA
| | - Michael J Grybko
- Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO, USA
| | - Joshua B Hunt
- Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO, USA
| | - Alon Poleg-Polsky
- Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO, USA.
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26
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Strauss S, Korympidou MM, Ran Y, Franke K, Schubert T, Baden T, Berens P, Euler T, Vlasits AL. Center-surround interactions underlie bipolar cell motion sensitivity in the mouse retina. Nat Commun 2022; 13:5574. [PMID: 36163124 PMCID: PMC9513071 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-32762-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2021] [Accepted: 08/16/2022] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Motion sensing is a critical aspect of vision. We studied the representation of motion in mouse retinal bipolar cells and found that some bipolar cells are radially direction selective, preferring the origin of small object motion trajectories. Using a glutamate sensor, we directly observed bipolar cells synaptic output and found that there are radial direction selective and non-selective bipolar cell types, the majority being selective, and that radial direction selectivity relies on properties of the center-surround receptive field. We used these bipolar cell receptive fields along with connectomics to design biophysical models of downstream cells. The models and additional experiments demonstrated that bipolar cells pass radial direction selective excitation to starburst amacrine cells, which contributes to their directional tuning. As bipolar cells provide excitation to most amacrine and ganglion cells, their radial direction selectivity may contribute to motion processing throughout the visual system.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah Strauss
- Institute for Ophthalmic Research, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
- Centre for Integrative Neuroscience, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
- Tübingen AI Center, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Maria M Korympidou
- Institute for Ophthalmic Research, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
- Centre for Integrative Neuroscience, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Yanli Ran
- Institute for Ophthalmic Research, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
- Centre for Integrative Neuroscience, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Katrin Franke
- Institute for Ophthalmic Research, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
- Centre for Integrative Neuroscience, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Timm Schubert
- Institute for Ophthalmic Research, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
- Centre for Integrative Neuroscience, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Tom Baden
- Institute for Ophthalmic Research, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
- School of Life Sciences, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK
| | - Philipp Berens
- Institute for Ophthalmic Research, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
- Centre for Integrative Neuroscience, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
- Tübingen AI Center, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Thomas Euler
- Institute for Ophthalmic Research, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
- Centre for Integrative Neuroscience, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
| | - Anna L Vlasits
- Institute for Ophthalmic Research, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
- Centre for Integrative Neuroscience, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
- Department of Neurobiology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA.
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27
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Liu Z, Lu X, Villette V, Gou Y, Colbert KL, Lai S, Guan S, Land MA, Lee J, Assefa T, Zollinger DR, Korympidou MM, Vlasits AL, Pang MM, Su S, Cai C, Froudarakis E, Zhou N, Patel SS, Smith CL, Ayon A, Bizouard P, Bradley J, Franke K, Clandinin TR, Giovannucci A, Tolias AS, Reimer J, Dieudonné S, St-Pierre F. Sustained deep-tissue voltage recording using a fast indicator evolved for two-photon microscopy. Cell 2022; 185:3408-3425.e29. [PMID: 35985322 PMCID: PMC9563101 DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2022.07.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 45] [Impact Index Per Article: 22.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/08/2021] [Revised: 04/13/2022] [Accepted: 07/18/2022] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
Genetically encoded voltage indicators are emerging tools for monitoring voltage dynamics with cell-type specificity. However, current indicators enable a narrow range of applications due to poor performance under two-photon microscopy, a method of choice for deep-tissue recording. To improve indicators, we developed a multiparameter high-throughput platform to optimize voltage indicators for two-photon microscopy. Using this system, we identified JEDI-2P, an indicator that is faster, brighter, and more sensitive and photostable than its predecessors. We demonstrate that JEDI-2P can report light-evoked responses in axonal termini of Drosophila interneurons and the dendrites and somata of amacrine cells of isolated mouse retina. JEDI-2P can also optically record the voltage dynamics of individual cortical neurons in awake behaving mice for more than 30 min using both resonant-scanning and ULoVE random-access microscopy. Finally, ULoVE recording of JEDI-2P can robustly detect spikes at depths exceeding 400 μm and report voltage correlations in pairs of neurons.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhuohe Liu
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Rice University, Houston, TX 77005, USA
| | - Xiaoyu Lu
- Systems, Synthetic, and Physical Biology Program, Rice University, Houston, TX 77005, USA
| | - Vincent Villette
- Institut de Biologie de l'École Normale Supérieure (IBENS), École Normale Supérieure, CNRS, INSERM, PSL Research University, Paris 75005, France
| | - Yueyang Gou
- Department of Neuroscience, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA
| | - Kevin L Colbert
- Department of Neuroscience, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA
| | - Shujuan Lai
- Department of Neuroscience, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA
| | - Sihui Guan
- Department of Neuroscience, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA
| | - Michelle A Land
- Department of Neuroscience, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA
| | - Jihwan Lee
- Systems, Synthetic, and Physical Biology Program, Rice University, Houston, TX 77005, USA; Department of Neuroscience, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA
| | - Tensae Assefa
- Department of Bioengineering, Rice University, Houston, TX 77005, USA
| | - Daniel R Zollinger
- Department of Neuroscience, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA
| | - Maria M Korympidou
- Institute for Ophthalmic Research, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg 72076, Germany; Center for Integrative Neuroscience, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg 72076, Germany; Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg, 72076, Germany
| | - Anna L Vlasits
- Institute for Ophthalmic Research, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg 72076, Germany; Center for Integrative Neuroscience, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg 72076, Germany
| | - Michelle M Pang
- Department of Neurobiology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Sharon Su
- Department of Neurobiology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Changjia Cai
- Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA
| | - Emmanouil Froudarakis
- Department of Neuroscience, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA; Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas, Heraklion 70013, Greece
| | - Na Zhou
- Department of Neuroscience, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA
| | - Saumil S Patel
- Department of Neuroscience, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA
| | - Cameron L Smith
- Department of Neuroscience, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA; Center for Neuroscience and Artificial Intelligence, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA
| | - Annick Ayon
- Institut de Biologie de l'École Normale Supérieure (IBENS), École Normale Supérieure, CNRS, INSERM, PSL Research University, Paris 75005, France
| | - Pierre Bizouard
- Institut de Biologie de l'École Normale Supérieure (IBENS), École Normale Supérieure, CNRS, INSERM, PSL Research University, Paris 75005, France
| | - Jonathan Bradley
- Institut de Biologie de l'École Normale Supérieure (IBENS), École Normale Supérieure, CNRS, INSERM, PSL Research University, Paris 75005, France
| | - Katrin Franke
- Institute for Ophthalmic Research, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg 72076, Germany; Center for Integrative Neuroscience, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg 72076, Germany; Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg, 72076, Germany
| | - Thomas R Clandinin
- Department of Neurobiology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Andrea Giovannucci
- Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA; UNC Neuroscience Center, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA
| | - Andreas S Tolias
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Rice University, Houston, TX 77005, USA; Department of Neuroscience, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA; Center for Neuroscience and Artificial Intelligence, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA
| | - Jacob Reimer
- Department of Neuroscience, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA; Center for Neuroscience and Artificial Intelligence, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA
| | - Stéphane Dieudonné
- Institut de Biologie de l'École Normale Supérieure (IBENS), École Normale Supérieure, CNRS, INSERM, PSL Research University, Paris 75005, France
| | - François St-Pierre
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Rice University, Houston, TX 77005, USA; Systems, Synthetic, and Physical Biology Program, Rice University, Houston, TX 77005, USA; Department of Neuroscience, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA; Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
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Tiriac A, Feller MB. Roles of visually evoked and spontaneous activity in the development of retinal direction selectivity maps. Trends Neurosci 2022; 45:529-538. [PMID: 35491255 DOI: 10.1016/j.tins.2022.04.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/11/2022] [Revised: 03/30/2022] [Accepted: 04/05/2022] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
Detecting the direction of motion underlies many visually guided behaviors, from reflexive eye movements to identifying and catching moving objects. A subset of motion sensitive cells are direction selective - responding strongly to motion in one direction and weakly to motion in other directions. In mammals, direction-selective cells are found throughout the visual system, including the retina, superior colliculus, and primary visual cortex. Direction selectivity maps are well characterized in the mouse retina, where the preferred directions of retinal direction-selective cells follow the projections of optic flow, generated by the movements animals make as they navigate their environment. Here, we synthesize recent findings implicating activity-dependent mechanisms in the development of retinal direction selectivity maps, with primary focus on studies in mice, and discuss the implications for the development of direction-selective responses in downstream visual areas.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexandre Tiriac
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
| | - Marla B Feller
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA; Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA.
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29
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Manookin MB. Neuroscience: Reliable and refined motion computations in the retina. Curr Biol 2022; 32:R474-R476. [PMID: 35609547 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2022.04.037] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
We can distinguish between the direction and speed of a moving object effortlessly, but this is actually a very challenging computational task. A new study demonstrates that this process begins at the first stages of visual processing in the retina.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael B Manookin
- Department of Ophthalmology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98109, USA; Vision Science Center, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98109, USA; Karalis Johnson Eye Center, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98109, USA.
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30
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Patterson SS, Bembry BN, Mazzaferri MA, Neitz M, Rieke F, Soetedjo R, Neitz J. Conserved circuits for direction selectivity in the primate retina. Curr Biol 2022; 32:2529-2538.e4. [PMID: 35588744 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2022.04.056] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/11/2021] [Revised: 02/25/2022] [Accepted: 04/20/2022] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
The detection of motion direction is a fundamental visual function and a classic model for neural computation. In the non-primate retina, direction selectivity arises in starburst amacrine cell (SAC) dendrites, which provide selective inhibition to direction-selective retinal ganglion cells (dsRGCs). Although SACs are present in primates, their connectivity and the existence of dsRGCs remain open questions. Here, we present a connectomic reconstruction of the primate ON SAC circuit from a serial electron microscopy volume of the macaque central retina. We show that the structural basis for the SACs' ability to confer directional selectivity on postsynaptic neurons is conserved. SACs selectively target a candidate homolog to the mammalian ON-sustained dsRGCs that project to the accessory optic system (AOS) and contribute to gaze-stabilizing reflexes. These results indicate that the capacity to compute motion direction is present in the retina, which is earlier in the primate visual system than classically thought.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sara S Patterson
- Center for Visual Science, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14620, USA; Department of Ophthalmology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98109, USA.
| | - Briyana N Bembry
- Department of Ophthalmology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98109, USA
| | - Marcus A Mazzaferri
- Department of Ophthalmology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98109, USA
| | - Maureen Neitz
- Department of Ophthalmology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98109, USA
| | - Fred Rieke
- Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
| | - Robijanto Soetedjo
- Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA; Washington National Primate Research Center, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
| | - Jay Neitz
- Department of Ophthalmology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98109, USA.
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31
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An Artificial Visual System for Motion Direction Detection Based on the Hassenstein–Reichardt Correlator Model. ELECTRONICS 2022. [DOI: 10.3390/electronics11091423] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/01/2023]
Abstract
The perception of motion direction is essential for the survival of visual animals. Despite various theoretical and biophysical investigations that have been conducted to elucidate directional selectivity at the neural level, the systemic mechanism of motion direction detection remains elusive. Here, we develop an artificial visual system (AVS) based on the core computation of the Hassenstein–Reichardt correlator (HRC) model for global motion direction detection. With reference to the biological investigations of Drosophila, we first describe a local motion-sensitive, directionally detective neuron that only responds to ON motion signals with high pattern contrast in a particular direction. Then, we use the full-neurons scheme motion direction detection mechanism to detect the global motion direction based on our previous research. The mechanism enables our AVS to detect multiple directions in a two-dimensional view, and the global motion direction is inferred from the outputs of all local motion-sensitive directionally detective neurons. To verify the reliability of our AVS, we conduct a series of experiments and compare its performance with the time-considered convolution neural network (CNN) and the EfficientNetB0 under the same conditions. The experimental results demonstrated that our system is reliable in detecting the direction of motion, and among the three models, our AVS has better motion direction detection capabilities.
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32
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Abstract
Retinal circuits transform the pixel representation of photoreceptors into the feature representations of ganglion cells, whose axons transmit these representations to the brain. Functional, morphological, and transcriptomic surveys have identified more than 40 retinal ganglion cell (RGC) types in mice. RGCs extract features of varying complexity; some simply signal local differences in brightness (i.e., luminance contrast), whereas others detect specific motion trajectories. To understand the retina, we need to know how retinal circuits give rise to the diverse RGC feature representations. A catalog of the RGC feature set, in turn, is fundamental to understanding visual processing in the brain. Anterograde tracing indicates that RGCs innervate more than 50 areas in the mouse brain. Current maps connecting RGC types to brain areas are rudimentary, as is our understanding of how retinal signals are transformed downstream to guide behavior. In this article, I review the feature selectivities of mouse RGCs, how they arise, and how they are utilized downstream. Not only is knowledge of the behavioral purpose of RGC signals critical for understanding the retinal contributions to vision; it can also guide us to the most relevant areas of visual feature space. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Vision Science, Volume 8 is September 2022. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel Kerschensteiner
- John F. Hardesty, MD, Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences; Department of Neuroscience; Department of Biomedical Engineering; and Hope Center for Neurological Disorders, Washington University School of Medicine, Saint Louis, Missouri, USA;
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33
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A novel motion direction detection mechanism based on dendritic computation of direction-selective ganglion cells. Knowl Based Syst 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.knosys.2022.108205] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/08/2023]
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34
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Artificial Visual System for Orientation Detection Based on Hubel–Wiesel Model. Brain Sci 2022; 12:brainsci12040470. [PMID: 35448001 PMCID: PMC9025109 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci12040470] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/09/2022] [Revised: 03/27/2022] [Accepted: 03/30/2022] [Indexed: 01/18/2023] Open
Abstract
The Hubel–Wiesel (HW) model is a classical neurobiological model for explaining the orientation selectivity of cortical cells. However, the HW model still has not been fully proved physiologically, and there are few concise but efficient systems to quantify and simulate the HW model and can be used for object orientation detection applications. To realize a straightforward and efficient quantitive method and validate the HW model’s reasonability and practicality, we use McCulloch-Pitts (MP) neuron model to simulate simple cells and complex cells and implement an artificial visual system (AVS) for two-dimensional object orientation detection. First, we realize four types of simple cells that are only responsible for detecting a specific orientation angle locally. Complex cells are realized with the sum function. Every local orientation information of an object is collected by simple cells and subsequently converged to the corresponding same type complex cells for computing global activation degree. Finally, the global orientation is obtained according to the activation degree of each type of complex cell. Based on this scheme, an AVS for global orientation detection is constructed. We conducted computer simulations to prove the feasibility and effectiveness of our scheme and the AVS. Computer simulations show that the mechanism-based AVS can make accurate orientation discrimination and shows striking biological similarities with the natural visual system, which indirectly proves the rationality of the Hubel–Wiesel model. Furthermore, compared with traditional CNN, we find that our AVS beats CNN on orientation detection tasks in identification accuracy, noise resistance, computation and learning cost, hardware implementation, and reasonability.
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35
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Summers MT, Feller MB. Distinct inhibitory pathways control velocity and directional tuning in the mouse retina. Curr Biol 2022; 32:2130-2143.e3. [PMID: 35395192 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2022.03.054] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/21/2022] [Revised: 03/09/2022] [Accepted: 03/17/2022] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
The sensory periphery is responsible for detecting ethologically relevant features of the external world, using compact, predominantly feedforward circuits. Visual motion is a particularly prevalent sensory feature, the presence of which can be a signal to enact diverse behaviors ranging from gaze stabilization reflexes to predator avoidance or prey capture. To understand how the retina constructs the distinct neural representations required for these behaviors, we investigated two circuits responsible for encoding different aspects of image motion: ON and ON-OFF direction-selective ganglion cells (DSGCs). Using a combination of two-photon targeted whole-cell electrophysiology, pharmacology, and conditional knockout mice, we show that distinct inhibitory pathways independently control tuning for motion velocity and motion direction in these two cell types. We further employ dynamic clamp and numerical modeling techniques to show that asymmetric inhibition provides a velocity-invariant mechanism of directional tuning, despite the strong velocity dependence of classical models of direction selectivity. We therefore demonstrate that invariant representations of motion features by inhibitory interneurons act as computational building blocks to construct distinct, behaviorally relevant signals at the earliest stages of the visual system.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mathew T Summers
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Marla B Feller
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA; Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
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36
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Ketkar MD, Gür B, Molina-Obando S, Ioannidou M, Martelli C, Silies M. First-order visual interneurons distribute distinct contrast and luminance information across ON and OFF pathways to achieve stable behavior. eLife 2022; 11:74937. [PMID: 35263247 PMCID: PMC8967382 DOI: 10.7554/elife.74937] [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: 10/22/2021] [Accepted: 03/03/2022] [Indexed: 11/26/2022] Open
Abstract
The accurate processing of contrast is the basis for all visually guided behaviors. Visual scenes with rapidly changing illumination challenge contrast computation because photoreceptor adaptation is not fast enough to compensate for such changes. Yet, human perception of contrast is stable even when the visual environment is quickly changing, suggesting rapid post receptor luminance gain control. Similarly, in the fruit fly Drosophila, such gain control leads to luminance invariant behavior for moving OFF stimuli. Here, we show that behavioral responses to moving ON stimuli also utilize a luminance gain, and that ON-motion guided behavior depends on inputs from three first-order interneurons L1, L2, and L3. Each of these neurons encodes contrast and luminance differently and distributes information asymmetrically across both ON and OFF contrast-selective pathways. Behavioral responses to both ON and OFF stimuli rely on a luminance-based correction provided by L1 and L3, wherein L1 supports contrast computation linearly, and L3 non-linearly amplifies dim stimuli. Therefore, L1, L2, and L3 are not specific inputs to ON and OFF pathways but the lamina serves as a separate processing layer that distributes distinct luminance and contrast information across ON and OFF pathways to support behavior in varying conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Madhura D Ketkar
- Institute of Developmental Biology and Neurobiology, Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, Mainz, Germany
| | - Burak Gür
- Institute of Developmental Biology and Neurobiology, Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, Mainz, Germany
| | - Sebastian Molina-Obando
- Institute of Developmental Biology and Neurobiology, Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, Mainz, Germany
| | - Maria Ioannidou
- Institute of Developmental Biology and Neurobiology, Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, Mainz, Germany
| | - Carlotta Martelli
- Institute of Developmental Biology and Neurobiology, Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, Mainz, Germany
| | - Marion Silies
- Institute of Developmental Biology and Neurobiology, Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, Mainz, Germany
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37
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Ning J, Li Z, Zhang X, Wang J, Chen D, Liu Q, Sun Y. Behavioral signatures of structured feature detection during courtship in Drosophila. Curr Biol 2022; 32:1211-1231.e7. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2022.01.024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/08/2021] [Revised: 11/27/2021] [Accepted: 01/10/2022] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
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38
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Henning M, Ramos-Traslosheros G, Gür B, Silies M. Populations of local direction-selective cells encode global motion patterns generated by self-motion. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2022; 8:eabi7112. [PMID: 35044821 PMCID: PMC8769539 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abi7112] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/10/2023]
Abstract
Self-motion generates visual patterns on the eye that are important for navigation. These optic flow patterns are encoded by the population of local direction–selective cells in the mouse retina, whereas in flies, local direction–selective T4/T5 cells are thought to be uniformly tuned. How complex global motion patterns can be computed downstream is unclear. We show that the population of T4/T5 cells in Drosophila encodes global motion patterns. Whereas the mouse retina encodes four types of optic flow, the fly visual system encodes six. This matches the larger number of degrees of freedom and the increased complexity of translational and rotational motion patterns during flight. The four uniformly tuned T4/T5 subtypes described previously represent a local subset of the population. Thus, a population code for global motion patterns appears to be a general coding principle of visual systems that matches local motion responses to modes of the animal’s movement.
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Affiliation(s)
- Miriam Henning
- Institute of Developmental Biology and Neurobiology, Johannes-Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz 55128, Germany
- Göttingen Graduate School for Neurosciences, Biophysics, and Molecular Biosciences (GGNB) and International Max Planck Research School (IMPRS) for Neurosciences at the University of Göttingen, Göttingen 37077, Germany
| | - Giordano Ramos-Traslosheros
- Institute of Developmental Biology and Neurobiology, Johannes-Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz 55128, Germany
- Göttingen Graduate School for Neurosciences, Biophysics, and Molecular Biosciences (GGNB) and International Max Planck Research School (IMPRS) for Neurosciences at the University of Göttingen, Göttingen 37077, Germany
| | - Burak Gür
- Institute of Developmental Biology and Neurobiology, Johannes-Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz 55128, Germany
- Göttingen Graduate School for Neurosciences, Biophysics, and Molecular Biosciences (GGNB) and International Max Planck Research School (IMPRS) for Neurosciences at the University of Göttingen, Göttingen 37077, Germany
| | - Marion Silies
- Institute of Developmental Biology and Neurobiology, Johannes-Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz 55128, Germany
- Corresponding author.
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Ezra-Tsur E, Amsalem O, Ankri L, Patil P, Segev I, Rivlin-Etzion M. Realistic retinal modeling unravels the differential role of excitation and inhibition to starburst amacrine cells in direction selectivity. PLoS Comput Biol 2021; 17:e1009754. [PMID: 34968385 PMCID: PMC8754344 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1009754] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/17/2021] [Revised: 01/12/2022] [Accepted: 12/14/2021] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Retinal direction-selectivity originates in starburst amacrine cells (SACs), which display a centrifugal preference, responding with greater depolarization to a stimulus expanding from soma to dendrites than to a collapsing stimulus. Various mechanisms were hypothesized to underlie SAC centrifugal preference, but dissociating them is experimentally challenging and the mechanisms remain debatable. To address this issue, we developed the Retinal Stimulation Modeling Environment (RSME), a multifaceted data-driven retinal model that encompasses detailed neuronal morphology and biophysical properties, retina-tailored connectivity scheme and visual input. Using a genetic algorithm, we demonstrated that spatiotemporally diverse excitatory inputs–sustained in the proximal and transient in the distal processes–are sufficient to generate experimentally validated centrifugal preference in a single SAC. Reversing these input kinetics did not produce any centrifugal-preferring SAC. We then explored the contribution of SAC-SAC inhibitory connections in establishing the centrifugal preference. SAC inhibitory network enhanced the centrifugal preference, but failed to generate it in its absence. Embedding a direction selective ganglion cell (DSGC) in a SAC network showed that the known SAC-DSGC asymmetric connectivity by itself produces direction selectivity. Still, this selectivity is sharpened in a centrifugal-preferring SAC network. Finally, we use RSME to demonstrate the contribution of SAC-SAC inhibitory connections in mediating direction selectivity and recapitulate recent experimental findings. Thus, using RSME, we obtained a mechanistic understanding of SACs’ centrifugal preference and its contribution to direction selectivity. Retinal direction selectivity is a canonical example for a computation undertaken by the retina. Starburst amacrine cells (SACs), interneurons in the retina, mediate direction selectivity via two mechanisms: they form asymmetric inhibitory connections with direction selective ganglion cells (DSGCs); and their processes are themselves direction selective, displaying a centrifugal preference. Various hypotheses were raised to account for this centrifugal preference, including the arrangement of SAC excitatory inputs, their kinetics, as well as reciprocal inhibition between SACs. To address this, we developed the Retinal Stimulation Modeling Environment (RSME)–a modeling environment for highly detailed, biologically plausible simulations, tailored to the exploration of neuronal dynamic and visual processing in retinal circuits. We started with exploring the excitation to a single SAC, and found that a precise organization of the input kinetics along SAC processes can generate a centrifugal preference that matched our experimental recordings. We then generated a network of SACs and found that reciprocal inhibition between SACs further enhances the centrifugal preference. Finally, we embedded a DSGC in the network, and dissected the contribution of SAC-DSGC asymmetric connections and SAC centrifugal preference to direction selectivity in DSGC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elishai Ezra-Tsur
- Department of Brain Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
- Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, The Open University of Israel, Ra’anana, Israel
- * E-mail: (EE-T); (MR-E)
| | - Oren Amsalem
- Department of Neurobiology, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Lea Ankri
- Department of Brain Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
| | - Pritish Patil
- Department of Brain Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
| | - Idan Segev
- Department of Neurobiology, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
- Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Michal Rivlin-Etzion
- Department of Brain Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
- * E-mail: (EE-T); (MR-E)
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40
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Ruff T, Peters C, Matsumoto A, Ihle SJ, Morales PA, Gaitanos L, Yonehara K, Del Toro D, Klein R. FLRT3 Marks Direction-Selective Retinal Ganglion Cells That Project to the Medial Terminal Nucleus. Front Mol Neurosci 2021; 14:790466. [PMID: 34955746 PMCID: PMC8696037 DOI: 10.3389/fnmol.2021.790466] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/06/2021] [Accepted: 11/19/2021] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
The mammalian retina extracts a multitude of diverse features from the visual scene such as color, contrast, and direction of motion. These features are transmitted separately to the brain by more than 40 different retinal ganglion cell (RGC) subtypes. However, so far only a few genetic markers exist to fully characterize the different RGC subtypes. Here, we present a novel genetic Flrt3-CreERT2 knock-in mouse that labels a small subpopulation of RGCs. Using single-cell injection of fluorescent dyes in Flrt3 positive RGCs, we distinguished four morphological RGC subtypes. Anterograde tracings using a fluorescent Cre-dependent Adeno-associated virus (AAV) revealed that a subgroup of Flrt3 positive RGCs specifically project to the medial terminal nucleus (MTN), which is part of the accessory optic system (AOS) and is essential in driving reflex eye movements for retinal image stabilization. Functional characterization using ex vivo patch-clamp recordings showed that the MTN-projecting Flrt3 RGCs preferentially respond to downward motion in an ON-fashion. These neurons distribute in a regular pattern and most of them are bistratified at the level of the ON and OFF bands of cholinergic starburst amacrine cells where they express the known ON-OFF direction-selective RGC marker CART. Together, our results indicate that MTN-projecting Flrt3 RGCs represent a new functionally homogeneous AOS projecting direction-selective RGC subpopulation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tobias Ruff
- Department of Molecules, Signaling, and Development, Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology, Martinsried, Germany.,Laboratory of Biosensors and Bioelectronics, ETH Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Christian Peters
- Department of Molecules, Signaling, and Development, Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology, Martinsried, Germany
| | - Akihiro Matsumoto
- Department of Biomedicine, Nordic-EMBL Partnership for Molecular Medicine, Danish Research Institute of Translational Neuroscience - DANDRITE, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Stephan J Ihle
- Laboratory of Biosensors and Bioelectronics, ETH Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Pilar Alcalá Morales
- Department of Molecules, Signaling, and Development, Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology, Martinsried, Germany
| | - Louise Gaitanos
- Department of Molecules, Signaling, and Development, Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology, Martinsried, Germany
| | - Keisuke Yonehara
- Department of Biomedicine, Nordic-EMBL Partnership for Molecular Medicine, Danish Research Institute of Translational Neuroscience - DANDRITE, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Daniel Del Toro
- Department of Molecules, Signaling, and Development, Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology, Martinsried, Germany.,Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Institute of Neurosciences, IDIBAPS, CIBERNED, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Rüdiger Klein
- Department of Molecules, Signaling, and Development, Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology, Martinsried, Germany
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41
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Gelperin A, Ambrosini AE. Quantitative Characterization of Output from the Directionally Selective Visual Interneuron H1 in the Grey Flesh Fly Sarcophaga bullata. JOURNAL OF UNDERGRADUATE NEUROSCIENCE EDUCATION : JUNE : A PUBLICATION OF FUN, FACULTY FOR UNDERGRADUATE NEUROSCIENCE 2021; 20:A88-A99. [PMID: 35540945 PMCID: PMC9053427] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/08/2021] [Revised: 08/31/2021] [Accepted: 09/20/2021] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
H1, a very well-studied insect visual interneuron, has a panoramic receptive field and is directionally selective in responding to optic flow. The synaptic basis for the directional selectivity of the H1 neuron has been studied using both theoretical and cellular approaches. Extracellular single-unit recordings are readily obtained by beginning students using commercially available adults of the grey flesh fly Sarcophaga bullata. We describe an apparatus which allows students to present a series of moving visual stimuli to the eye of the restrained, minimally dissected adult Sarcophaga, while recording both the single unit responses of the H1 neuron and the position and velocity of the moving stimulus. Students obtain quantitative and reproducible responses of H1, probing the response properties of the neuron by modulating stimulus parameters such as: direction and speed of movement, visual contrast, spatial wavelength, or the extent of the visual field occupied. Students learn to perform quantitative analysis of their data and to generate graphical representations of their results characterizing the tuning and receptive field of this neuron. This exercise demonstrates the utility of single unit recording of an identified interneuron in an awake restrained insect and promotes interpretation of these results in terms of the visual stimuli normally encountered by freely flying flies in their natural environment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alan Gelperin
- Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544
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42
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Kind E, Longden KD, Nern A, Zhao A, Sancer G, Flynn MA, Laughland CW, Gezahegn B, Ludwig HDF, Thomson AG, Obrusnik T, Alarcón PG, Dionne H, Bock DD, Rubin GM, Reiser MB, Wernet MF. Synaptic targets of photoreceptors specialized to detect color and skylight polarization in Drosophila. eLife 2021; 10:e71858. [PMID: 34913436 PMCID: PMC8789284 DOI: 10.7554/elife.71858] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/01/2021] [Accepted: 12/15/2021] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Color and polarization provide complementary information about the world and are detected by specialized photoreceptors. However, the downstream neural circuits that process these distinct modalities are incompletely understood in any animal. Using electron microscopy, we have systematically reconstructed the synaptic targets of the photoreceptors specialized to detect color and skylight polarization in Drosophila, and we have used light microscopy to confirm many of our findings. We identified known and novel downstream targets that are selective for different wavelengths or polarized light, and followed their projections to other areas in the optic lobes and the central brain. Our results revealed many synapses along the photoreceptor axons between brain regions, new pathways in the optic lobes, and spatially segregated projections to central brain regions. Strikingly, photoreceptors in the polarization-sensitive dorsal rim area target fewer cell types, and lack strong connections to the lobula, a neuropil involved in color processing. Our reconstruction identifies shared wiring and modality-specific specializations for color and polarization vision, and provides a comprehensive view of the first steps of the pathways processing color and polarized light inputs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emil Kind
- Instititut für Biologie – Abteilung Neurobiologie, Fachbereich Biologie, Chemie & Pharmazie, Freie Universität BerlinBerlinGermany
| | - Kit D Longden
- Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical InstituteAshburnUnited States
| | - Aljoscha Nern
- Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical InstituteAshburnUnited States
| | - Arthur Zhao
- Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical InstituteAshburnUnited States
| | - Gizem Sancer
- Instititut für Biologie – Abteilung Neurobiologie, Fachbereich Biologie, Chemie & Pharmazie, Freie Universität BerlinBerlinGermany
| | - Miriam A Flynn
- Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical InstituteAshburnUnited States
| | - Connor W Laughland
- Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical InstituteAshburnUnited States
| | - Bruck Gezahegn
- Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical InstituteAshburnUnited States
| | - Henrique DF Ludwig
- Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical InstituteAshburnUnited States
| | - Alex G Thomson
- Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical InstituteAshburnUnited States
| | - Tessa Obrusnik
- Instititut für Biologie – Abteilung Neurobiologie, Fachbereich Biologie, Chemie & Pharmazie, Freie Universität BerlinBerlinGermany
| | - Paula G Alarcón
- Instititut für Biologie – Abteilung Neurobiologie, Fachbereich Biologie, Chemie & Pharmazie, Freie Universität BerlinBerlinGermany
| | - Heather Dionne
- Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical InstituteAshburnUnited States
| | - Davi D Bock
- Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical InstituteAshburnUnited States
| | - Gerald M Rubin
- Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical InstituteAshburnUnited States
| | - Michael B Reiser
- Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical InstituteAshburnUnited States
| | - Mathias F Wernet
- Instititut für Biologie – Abteilung Neurobiologie, Fachbereich Biologie, Chemie & Pharmazie, Freie Universität BerlinBerlinGermany
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43
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Otgondemberel Y, Roh H, Fried SI, Im M. Spiking Characteristics of Network-Mediated Responses Arising in Direction-Selective Ganglion Cells of Rabbit and Mouse Retinas to Electric Stimulation for Retinal Prostheses. IEEE Trans Neural Syst Rehabil Eng 2021; 29:2445-2455. [PMID: 34784280 PMCID: PMC8654582 DOI: 10.1109/tnsre.2021.3128878] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
To restore the sight of individuals blinded by outer retinal degeneration, numerous retinal prostheses have been developed. However, the performance of those implants is still hampered by some factors including the lack of comprehensive understanding of the electrically-evoked responses arising in various retinal ganglion cell (RGC) types. In this study, we characterized the electrically-evoked network-mediated responses (hereafter referred to as electric responses) of ON-OFF direction-selective (DS) RGCs in rabbit and mouse retinas for the first time. Interestingly, both species in common demonstrated strong negative correlations between spike counts of electric responses and direction selective indices (DSIs), suggesting electric stimulation activates inhibitory presynaptic neurons that suppress null direction responses for high direction tuning in their light responses. The DS cells of the two species showed several differences including different numbers of bursts. Also, spiking patterns were more heterogeneous across DS RGCs of rabbits than those of mice. The electric response magnitudes of rabbit DS cells showed positive and negative correlations with ON and OFF light response magnitudes to preferred direction motion, respectively. But the mouse DS cells showed positive correlations in both comparisons. Our Fano Factor (FF) and spike time tiling coefficient (STTC) analyses revealed that spiking consistencies across repeats were reduced in late electric responses in both species. Moreover, the response consistencies of DS RGCs were lower than those of non-DS RGCs. Our results indicate the species-dependent retinal circuits may result in different electric response features and therefore suggest a proper animal model may be crucial in prosthetic researches.
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44
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Gruntman E, Reimers P, Romani S, Reiser MB. Non-preferred contrast responses in the Drosophila motion pathways reveal a receptive field structure that explains a common visual illusion. Curr Biol 2021; 31:5286-5298.e7. [PMID: 34672960 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2021.09.072] [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: 04/28/2021] [Revised: 09/14/2021] [Accepted: 09/24/2021] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Abstract
Diverse sensory systems, from audition to thermosensation, feature a separation of inputs into ON (increments) and OFF (decrements) signals. In the Drosophila visual system, separate ON and OFF pathways compute the direction of motion, yet anatomical and functional studies have identified some crosstalk between these channels. We used this well-studied circuit to ask whether the motion computation depends on ON-OFF pathway crosstalk. Using whole-cell electrophysiology, we recorded visual responses of T4 (ON) and T5 (OFF) cells, mapped their composite ON-OFF receptive fields, and found that they share a similar spatiotemporal structure. We fit a biophysical model to these receptive fields that accurately predicts directionally selective T4 and T5 responses to both ON and OFF moving stimuli. This model also provides a detailed mechanistic explanation for the directional preference inversion in response to the prominent reverse-phi illusion. Finally, we used the steering responses of tethered flying flies to validate the model's predicted effects of varying stimulus parameters on the behavioral turning inversion.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eyal Gruntman
- Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, 19700 Helix Drive, Ashburn, VA, USA.
| | - Pablo Reimers
- Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, 19700 Helix Drive, Ashburn, VA, USA
| | - Sandro Romani
- Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, 19700 Helix Drive, Ashburn, VA, USA
| | - Michael B Reiser
- Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, 19700 Helix Drive, Ashburn, VA, USA.
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45
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Li J, Niemeier M, Kern R, Egelhaaf M. Disentangling of Local and Wide-Field Motion Adaptation. Front Neural Circuits 2021; 15:713285. [PMID: 34531728 PMCID: PMC8438216 DOI: 10.3389/fncir.2021.713285] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/22/2021] [Accepted: 08/11/2021] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Motion adaptation has been attributed in flying insects a pivotal functional role in spatial vision based on optic flow. Ongoing motion enhances in the visual pathway the representation of spatial discontinuities, which manifest themselves as velocity discontinuities in the retinal optic flow pattern during translational locomotion. There is evidence for different spatial scales of motion adaptation at the different visual processing stages. Motion adaptation is supposed to take place, on the one hand, on a retinotopic basis at the level of local motion detecting neurons and, on the other hand, at the level of wide-field neurons pooling the output of many of these local motion detectors. So far, local and wide-field adaptation could not be analyzed separately, since conventional motion stimuli jointly affect both adaptive processes. Therefore, we designed a novel stimulus paradigm based on two types of motion stimuli that had the same overall strength but differed in that one led to local motion adaptation while the other did not. We recorded intracellularly the activity of a particular wide-field motion-sensitive neuron, the horizontal system equatorial cell (HSE) in blowflies. The experimental data were interpreted based on a computational model of the visual motion pathway, which included the spatially pooling HSE-cell. By comparing the difference between the recorded and modeled HSE-cell responses induced by the two types of motion adaptation, the major characteristics of local and wide-field adaptation could be pinpointed. Wide-field adaptation could be shown to strongly depend on the activation level of the cell and, thus, on the direction of motion. In contrast, the response gain is reduced by local motion adaptation to a similar extent independent of the direction of motion. This direction-independent adaptation differs fundamentally from the well-known adaptive adjustment of response gain according to the prevailing overall stimulus level that is considered essential for an efficient signal representation by neurons with a limited operating range. Direction-independent adaptation is discussed to result from the joint activity of local motion-sensitive neurons of different preferred directions and to lead to a representation of the local motion direction that is independent of the overall direction of global motion.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jinglin Li
- Neurobiology, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany
| | | | - Roland Kern
- Neurobiology, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany
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46
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Ramos-Traslosheros G, Silies M. The physiological basis for contrast opponency in motion computation in Drosophila. Nat Commun 2021; 12:4987. [PMID: 34404776 PMCID: PMC8371135 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-24986-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/27/2020] [Accepted: 07/07/2021] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
In Drosophila, direction-selective neurons implement a mechanism of motion computation similar to cortical neurons, using contrast-opponent receptive fields with ON and OFF subfields. It is not clear how the presynaptic circuitry of direction-selective neurons in the OFF pathway supports this computation if all major inputs are OFF-rectified neurons. Here, we reveal the biological substrate for motion computation in the OFF pathway. Three interneurons, Tm2, Tm9 and CT1, provide information about ON stimuli to the OFF direction-selective neuron T5 across its receptive field, supporting a contrast-opponent receptive field organization. Consistent with its prominent role in motion detection, variability in Tm9 receptive field properties transfers to T5, and calcium decrements in Tm9 in response to ON stimuli persist across behavioral states, while spatial tuning is sharpened by active behavior. Together, our work shows how a key neuronal computation is implemented by its constituent neuronal circuit elements to ensure direction selectivity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Giordano Ramos-Traslosheros
- Institute of Developmental Biology and Neurobiology, Johannes-Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, Germany
- International Max Planck Research School Neuroscienes and Göttingen Graduate School for Neurosciences, Biophysics, and Molecular Biosciences (GGNB) at the University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Marion Silies
- Institute of Developmental Biology and Neurobiology, Johannes-Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, Germany.
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47
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Abstract
Time is largely a hidden variable in vision. It is the condition for seeing interesting things such as spatial forms and patterns, colours and movements in the external world, and yet is not meant to be noticed in itself. Temporal aspects of visual processing have received comparatively little attention in research. Temporal properties have been made explicit mainly in measurements of resolution and integration in simple tasks such as detection of spatially homogeneous flicker or light pulses of varying duration. Only through a mechanistic understanding of their basis in retinal photoreceptors and circuits can such measures guide modelling of natural vision in different species and illuminate functional and evolutionary trade-offs. Temporal vision research would benefit from bridging traditions that speak different languages. Towards that goal, I here review studies from the fields of human psychophysics, retinal physiology and neuroethology, with a focus on fundamental constraints set by early vision. Summary: Simple measures of temporal vision such as the critical flicker frequency can be useful for modelling natural vision only if their relationship to photoreceptor responses and retinal processing is understood.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kristian Donner
- Molecular and Integrative Biosciences Research Programme, Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Helsinki, 00014 Helsinki, Finland
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48
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Ge X, Zhang K, Gribizis A, Hamodi AS, Sabino AM, Crair MC. Retinal waves prime visual motion detection by simulating future optic flow. Science 2021; 373:373/6553/eabd0830. [PMID: 34437090 DOI: 10.1126/science.abd0830] [Citation(s) in RCA: 44] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/28/2020] [Accepted: 05/26/2021] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
Abstract
The ability to perceive and respond to environmental stimuli emerges in the absence of sensory experience. Spontaneous retinal activity prior to eye opening guides the refinement of retinotopy and eye-specific segregation in mammals, but its role in the development of higher-order visual response properties remains unclear. Here, we describe a transient window in neonatal mouse development during which the spatial propagation of spontaneous retinal waves resembles the optic flow pattern generated by forward self-motion. We show that wave directionality requires the same circuit components that form the adult direction-selective retinal circuit and that chronic disruption of wave directionality alters the development of direction-selective responses of superior colliculus neurons. These data demonstrate how the developing visual system patterns spontaneous activity to simulate ethologically relevant features of the external world and thereby instruct self-organization.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xinxin Ge
- Department of Neuroscience, Kavli Institute for Neuroscience, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06510, USA
| | - Kathy Zhang
- Department of Neuroscience, Kavli Institute for Neuroscience, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06510, USA
| | - Alexandra Gribizis
- Department of Neuroscience, Kavli Institute for Neuroscience, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06510, USA
| | - Ali S Hamodi
- Department of Neuroscience, Kavli Institute for Neuroscience, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06510, USA
| | - Aude Martinez Sabino
- Department of Neuroscience, Kavli Institute for Neuroscience, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06510, USA
| | - Michael C Crair
- Department of Neuroscience, Kavli Institute for Neuroscience, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06510, USA.
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49
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Mechanism of Motion Direction Detection Based on Barlow’s Retina Inhibitory Scheme in Direction-Selective Ganglion Cells. ELECTRONICS 2021. [DOI: 10.3390/electronics10141663] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Previous studies have reported that directionally selective ganglion cells respond strongly in their preferred direction, but are only weakly excited by stimuli moving in the opposite null direction. Various studies have attempted to elucidate the mechanisms underlying direction selectivity with cellular basis. However, these studies have not elucidated the mechanism underlying motion direction detection. In this study, we propose the mechanism based on Barlow’s inhibitory scheme for motion direction detection. We described the local motion-sensing direction-selective neurons. Next, this model was used to construct the two-dimensional multi-directional detection neurons which detect the local motion directions. The information of local motion directions was finally used to infer the global motion direction. To verify the validity of the proposed mechanism, we conducted a series of experiments involving a dataset with a number of images. The proposed mechanism exhibited good performance in all experiments with high detection accuracy. Furthermore, we compare the performance of our proposed system and traditional Convolution Neural Network (CNN) on motion direction prediction. It is found that the performance of our system is much better than that of CNN in terms of accuracy, calculation speed and cost.
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50
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Wild B, Treue S. Comparing the influence of stimulus size and contrast on the perception of moving gratings and random dot patterns-A registered report protocol. PLoS One 2021; 16:e0253067. [PMID: 34153081 PMCID: PMC8216547 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0253067] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/15/2021] [Accepted: 05/27/2021] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Modern accounts of visual motion processing in the primate brain emphasize a hierarchy of different regions within the dorsal visual pathway, especially primary visual cortex (V1) and the middle temporal area (MT). However, recent studies have called the idea of a processing pipeline with fixed contributions to motion perception from each area into doubt. Instead, the role that each area plays appears to depend on properties of the stimulus as well as perceptual history. We propose to test this hypothesis in human subjects by comparing motion perception of two commonly used stimulus types: drifting sinusoidal gratings (DSGs) and random dot patterns (RDPs). To avoid potential biases in our approach we are pre-registering our study. We will compare the effects of size and contrast levels on the perception of the direction of motion for DSGs and RDPs. In addition, based on intriguing results in a pilot study, we will also explore the effects of a post-stimulus mask. Our approach will offer valuable insights into how motion is processed by the visual system and guide further behavioral and neurophysiological research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benedict Wild
- Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, German Primate Center – Leibniz-Institute for Primate Research, Goettingen, Germany
- Goettingen Graduate Center for Neurosciences, Biophysics, and Molecular Biosciences (GGNB), University of Goettingen, Goettingen, Germany
- * E-mail:
| | - Stefan Treue
- Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, German Primate Center – Leibniz-Institute for Primate Research, Goettingen, Germany
- Faculty of Biology and Psychology, University of Goettingen, Goettingen, Germany
- Leibniz-ScienceCampus Primate Cognition, Goettingen, Germany
- Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience, Goettingen, Germany
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