Fig. 7: Photo-inhibiting the direct axonal projection from the auditory cortex to forepaw S1 abolishes the capacity of auditory input to decrease the behavioral response latency during tactile goal-directed behavior.
From: Auditory input enhances somatosensory encoding and tactile goal-directed behavior
a The inhibitory opsin, Archaerhodopsin (ArchT), was injected into the auditory cortex and axonal projections in forepaw S1 were photo-inhibited (590 nm) during the goal-directed behavior. Example image of auditory-cortex axons transfected with Archaerhodopsin in forepaw S1 (~50 μm below pia). b Schematic of experimental paradigm. Mice previously injected with Archaerhodopsin were trained to receive a water reward if they licked a reward port in response to tactile stimulus alone (Tactile-trial; 200 Hz, 500 ms) and paired tactile and auditory stimulus (AudTac-trial). On random trials, mice were also presented with auditory stimulus alone (Auditory-trial; 2–50 kHz) which was not rewarded. LED (590 nm) was either focused on the surface of forepaw S1 (LED On) or not (LED Off) while the mouse performed the goal-directed task. c The lick latency during Tactile-trials and AudTac-trials were not significantly different during photoinhibition of auditory axons in forepaw S1 (LED On; n = 6 mice; 37/33 trialsav; p = 0.563; pshuffled = 0.688; Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed rank test). d Percentage of trials with a lick in the response window during LED On (orange) and LED Off (black). There was no significant difference in performance during LED On (n = 6 mice; 37/33 trialsav; p = 0.44; pshuffled = 0.844; two-tailed Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed rank test). Error bars represent S.E.M. *p < 0.05, ***p < 0.001, ****p < 0.0001.
