Fig. 5: Modulation of spatial processing of SC neurons by vLGN input. | Nature Communications

Fig. 5: Modulation of spatial processing of SC neurons by vLGN input.

From: Enhancement and contextual modulation of visuospatial processing by thalamocollicular projections from ventral lateral geniculate nucleus

Fig. 5

a Experimental setup. b Spatial frequency tuning of an example SC neuron without (gray) and with (orange) photo-inhibition of vLGN VGAT+ neurons. Vertical bar marks the preferred SF. n = 10 trials. Inset, PSTHs of spike responses at the SF marked by red arrowhead. c Preferred SF with vs. without photo-inhibition. Dashed line is the unity line. Inset, Pref. SFs in LED-OFF and LED-ON conditions. Center line indicates median, limit indicates upper/lower quartile and whisker indicates minimum/maximum for all box plots. n = 51 neurons, ****p = 1.4 × 10−6, two-tailed paired t-test. d Size tuning of an example SC neuron. n = 20 trials. Vertical bar marks the optimal size. e Optimal size with vs. without optogenetic inhibition. Inset, optimal sizes in LED-OFF and LED-ON conditions. n = 58 neurons, ****p = 2.3 × 10−6, two-tailed paired t-test. f–j Similar to (a–e) but for optogenetic activation (blue) of vLGN VGAT+ axons in SC. g n = 10 trials; h ****p = 1.6 × 10−5, two-tailed paired t-test, n = 51 neurons; i n = 20 trials; j ****p = 3.7 × 10−7, two-tailed paired t-test. n = 65 neurons. k SF tuning bandwidth in LED-OFF vs. LED-ON condition. **p = 0.002, ***p = 0.0009, two-tailed paired t-test. n = 51 (orange) and 51 (blue) neurons. l Size tuning bandwidth in LED-OFF vs. LED-ON condition. ****p = 6.2 × 10−5 (orange), 4.2 × 10−5 (blue), two-tailed paired t-test. n = 58 (orange) and 65 (blue) neurons. m Left, RFs of an example SC neuron in LED-OFF (top) and LED-ON (bottom) conditions. White and red ovals represent RF fittings for LED-OFF and LED-On conditions, respectively. Right, fold change in RF size after suppressing vLGN. *p = 0.011, two-tailed Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed rank test. n = 18 neurons. n Similar to (m) but for activation of vLGN axons in SC. ***p = 0.0005, two-tailed Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed rank test. n = 13 neurons. Data are presented as mean ± s.d. in (b, d, g, i); as mean ± s.e.m. in (k–n). Source data are provided as a Source Data file.

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