title: Temporal response properties of koniocellular (blue-on and blue-off) cells in marmoset lateral geniculate nucleus.
abstract: Visual perception requires integrating signals arriving at different times from parallel visual streams. For example, signals carried on the phasic-magnocellular (MC) pathway reach the cerebral cortex pathways some tens of milliseconds before signals traveling on the tonic-parvocellular (PC) pathway. Visual latencies of cells in the koniocellular (KC) pathway have not been specifically studied in simian primates. Here we compared MC and PC cells to "blue-on" (BON) and "blue-off" (BOF) KC cells; these cells carry visual signals originating in short-wavelength-sensitive (S) cones. We made extracellular recordings in the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) of anesthetized marmosets. We found that BON visual latencies are 10-20 ms longer than those of PC or MC cells. A small number of recorded BOF cells (n = 7) had latencies 10-20 ms longer than those of BON cells. Within all cell groups, latencies of foveal receptive fields (<10° eccentricity) were longer (by 3-8 ms) than latencies of peripheral receptive fields (>10°). Latencies of yellow-off inputs to BON cells lagged the blue-on inputs by up to 30 ms, but no differences in visual latency were seen on comparing marmosets expressing dichromatic ("red-green color-blind") or trichromatic color vision phenotype. We conclude that S-cone signals leaving the LGN on KC pathways are delayed with respect to signals traveling on PC and MC pathways. Cortical circuits serving color vision must therefore integrate across delays in (red-green) chromatic signals carried by PC cells and (blue-yellow) signals carried by KC cells.
authors.affiliation: Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Integrative Brain Function, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia; Save Sight Institute, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia;
authors.forename: A N J
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Pietersen
authors.affiliation: Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Integrative Brain Function, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia; Save Sight Institute, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia;
authors.forename: S K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Cheong
authors.affiliation: School of Medical Sciences, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia; Department of Experimental Psychology, University College London, London, United Kingdom; and.
authors.forename: S G
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Solomon
authors.affiliation: School of Medical Sciences, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia; Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, Heidelberg, Australia.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tailby
authors.affiliation: Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Integrative Brain Function, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia; Save Sight Institute, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia; School of Medical Sciences, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia; prmartin@physiol.usyd.edu.au.
authors.forename: P R
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Martin
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002144:Callithrix; D003118:Color Perception; D005074:Evoked Potentials, Visual; D005260:Female; D005829:Geniculate Bodies / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D011930:Reaction Time; D014794:Visual Fields
keywords: color vision; lateral geniculate nucleus; vision