Effects of cortical feedback on the spatial properties of relay cells in the lateral geniculate nucleus

Andolina, Ian M.; Jones, Helen; Sillito, Adam M.

doi:10.1152/jn.00194.2012

Cited by 40 publications

(68 citation statements)

References 86 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The observed reduction in classical receptive field size with enhanced CG feedback is consistent with the finding that pharmacological inactivation of cat visual cortex led to an increase in the size of LGN receptive fields (15). These authors also demonstrated that the strength of surround suppression was reduced when CG feedback was inactivated (15). It is therefore possible that enhanced CG feedback increases the influence of the surround, leading to a reduction in the effective size of the classical receptive field.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 86%

“…Receptive fields and tuning properties of LGN neurons are mainly inherited from the retina and not from CG feedback. However, some prior studies of CG function have argued that feedback could modulate certain properties such as receptive field size (15). We found that LED stimulation of CG feedback significantly reduced the width of the classical receptive field for LGN neurons of both ON and OFF types (Fig.…”

Section: Influence Of Cg Feedback On Lgn Neuronal Receptive Field Sizmentioning

confidence: 52%

“…Some have proposed that CG feedback modulates the gain (7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14) and/or the spatiotemporal properties of LGN neurons (15)(16)(17). Others have proposed that corticothalamic feedback controls whether thalamic neurons are in a state of net excitation or inhibition (8,12), depending upon oscillatory activity in corticothalamic networks (18).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Corticogeniculate feedback sharpens the temporal precision and spatial resolution of visual signals in the ferret

Hasse

Briggs

2017

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The corticogeniculate (CG) pathway connects the visual cortex with the visual thalamus (LGN) in the feedback direction and enables the cortex to directly influence its own input. Despite numerous investigations, the role of this feedback circuit in visual perception remained elusive. To probe the function of CG feedback in a causal manner, we selectively and reversibly manipulated the activity of CG neurons in anesthetized ferrets in vivo using a combined viral-infection and optogenetics approach to drive expression of channelrhodopsin2 (ChR2) in CG neurons. We observed significant increases in temporal precision and spatial resolution of LGN neuronal responses to drifting grating and white noise stimuli when CG neurons expressing ChR2 were light activated. Enhancing CG feedback reduced visually evoked response latencies, increased spike-timing precision, and reduced classical receptive field size. Increased precision among LGN neurons led to increased spike-timing precision among granular layer V1 neurons as well. Together, our findings suggest that the function of CG feedback is to control the timing and precision of thalamic responses to incoming visual signals.T he feedforward progression of sensory information from peripheral receptors through nuclei in the sensory thalamus to the primary sensory cortex is well understood. For example, much is known about how neurons in the primary sensory cortex represent elementary sensory features based on the inputs they receive from peripheral and thalamic neurons with well-defined receptive field properties. In addition to these feedforward circuits, mammalian sensory systems include a substantial feedback projection from the primary sensory cortex to the sensory thalamus (1). Despite a rich history of investigation, the functional role of corticothalamic feedback circuits in sensory perception remains a fundamental mystery in neuroscience.Our goal was to determine the functional contribution of corticothalamic feedback to vision. Corticogeniculate (CG) circuits link the primary visual cortex (V1) with the lateral geniculate nucleus of the thalamus (LGN) and constitute the first cortical feedback connection in the visual processing hierarchy (2). CG axons target LGN relay neurons, local interneurons within the LGN, and neurons in the visual portion of the thalamic reticular nucleus (TRN) that inhibit LGN relay neurons (3-5) (Fig. 1A). Based on this pattern of axonal innervation, CG modulation of LGN neurons could include both monosynaptic excitation and disynaptic inhibition of LGN relay neurons via TRN and/or local LGN inhibitory circuitry. The CG circuit is anatomically robust-cortical synapses onto LGN relay neurons far outnumber retinal synapses (4); however, the receptive fields of LGN relay neurons reflect their retinal and not their cortical inputs (6). In part due to its subtle influence on LGN responses, the function of CG feedback has remained elusive.There have been numerous experimental examinations of CG function-using methods with varying degrees of sele...

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 86%

Section: Influence Of Cg Feedback On Lgn Neuronal Receptive Field Sizmentioning

confidence: 52%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Corticogeniculate feedback sharpens the temporal precision and spatial resolution of visual signals in the ferret

Hasse

Briggs

2017

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…(described above). To reduce the influence of response variability, the area summation data were fit to a difference of Gaussians equation (Sceniak et al, 2001;Andolina et al, 2013;Alitto and Usrey, 2015a) as follows:…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Retinal and Nonretinal Contributions to Extraclassical Surround Suppression in the Lateral Geniculate Nucleus

2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…'I'm looking at the kitchen counter'; reviewed in Gilbert and Li, 2013). Experimentally, with cortical feedback intact and visual stimuli employed that exceed the classical center and surround, LGN neurons are more selective in their responses relative to when visual cortex is inactivated (Sillito et al, 1993;Cudeiro and Sillito, 2006;Jones et al, 2012;Andolina et al, 2013;see review, Sillito et al, 2006). Particularly striking are changes in selectivity associated with two sets of gratings drifting in orthogonal directions: one confined to the classic center and surround the other, absent from the center/surround, but occupying the next ~20° .…”

Section: Implementation Of the Principle Of Graceful Degradationmentioning

confidence: 99%

The multifunctional lateral geniculate nucleus

Weyand

2016

Reviews in the Neurosciences

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

AbstractProviding the critical link between the retina and visual cortex, the well-studied lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) has stood out as a structure in search of a function exceeding the mundane ‘relay’. For many mammals, it is structurally impressive: Exquisite lamination, sophisticated microcircuits, and blending of multiple inputs suggest some fundamental transform. This impression is bolstered by the fact that numerically, the retina accounts for a small fraction of its input. Despite such promise, the extent to which an LGN neuron separates itself from its retinal brethren has proven difficult to appreciate. Here, I argue that whereas retinogeniculate coupling is strong, what occurs in the LGN is judicious pruning of a retinal drive by nonretinal inputs. These nonretinal inputs reshape a receptive field that under the right conditions departs significantly from its retinal drive, even if transiently. I first review design features of the LGN and follow with evidence for 10 putative functions. Only two of these tend to surface in textbooks: parsing retinal axons by eye and functional group and gating by state. Among the remaining putative functions, implementation of the principle of graceful degradation and temporal decorrelation are at least as interesting but much less promoted. The retina solves formidable problems imposed by physics to yield multiple efficient and sensitive representations of the world. The LGN applies context, increasing content, and gates several of these representations. Even if the basic concentric receptive field remains, information transmitted for each LGN spike relative to each retinal spike is measurably increased.

show abstract

Effects of cortical feedback on the spatial properties of relay cells in the lateral geniculate nucleus

Cited by 40 publications

References 86 publications

Corticogeniculate feedback sharpens the temporal precision and spatial resolution of visual signals in the ferret

Corticogeniculate feedback sharpens the temporal precision and spatial resolution of visual signals in the ferret

Retinal and Nonretinal Contributions to Extraclassical Surround Suppression in the Lateral Geniculate Nucleus

The multifunctional lateral geniculate nucleus

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About