title: Neural coding in barrel cortex during whisker-guided locomotion.
abstract: Animals seek out relevant information by moving through a dynamic world, but sensory systems are usually studied under highly constrained and passive conditions that may not probe important dimensions of the neural code. Here, we explored neural coding in the barrel cortex of head-fixed mice that tracked walls with their whiskers in tactile virtual reality. Optogenetic manipulations revealed that barrel cortex plays a role in wall-tracking. Closed-loop optogenetic control of layer 4 neurons can substitute for whisker-object contact to guide behavior resembling wall tracking. We measured neural activity using two-photon calcium imaging and extracellular recordings. Neurons were tuned to the distance between the animal snout and the contralateral wall, with monotonic, unimodal, and multimodal tuning curves. This rich representation of object location in the barrel cortex could not be predicted based on simple stimulus-response relationships involving individual whiskers and likely emerges within cortical circuits.
authors.affiliation: Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, United States.
authors.forename: Nicholas James
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Sofroniew
authors.affiliation: Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, United States.|IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center, New York, United States.
authors.forename: Yurii A
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-5864-3346
authors.initials: YA
authors.lastname: Vlasov
authors.affiliation: Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, United States.
authors.forename: Samuel Andrew
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Hires
authors.affiliation: Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, United States.
authors.forename: Jeremy
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Freeman
authors.affiliation: Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, United States.
authors.forename: Karel
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Svoboda
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D008124:Locomotion; D051379:Mice; D059906:Neuroimaging; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology; D062308:Optogenetics; D010812:Physical Stimulation; D013003:Somatosensory Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D014110:Touch; D014738:Vibrissae / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: barrel cortex; calcium imaging; electrophysiologygy; head-fixed; mouse; navigation; neuroscience; whiskers