title: On Parallel Streams through the Mouse Dorsal Lateral Geniculate Nucleus.
abstract: The mouse visual system is an emerging model for the study of cortical and thalamic circuit function. To maximize the usefulness of this model system, it is important to analyze the similarities and differences between the organization of all levels of the murid visual system with other, better studied systems (e.g., non-human primates and the domestic cat). While the understanding of mouse retina and cortex has expanded rapidly, less is known about mouse dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus (dLGN). Here, we study whether parallel processing streams exist in mouse dLGN. We use a battery of stimuli that have been previously shown to successfully distinguish parallel streams in other species: electrical stimulation of the optic chiasm, contrast-reversing stationary gratings at varying spatial phase, drifting sinusoidal gratings, dense noise for receptive field reconstruction, and frozen contrast-modulating noise. As in the optic nerves of domestic cats and non-human primates, we find evidence for multiple conduction velocity groups after optic chiasm stimulation. As in so-called "visual mammals", we find a subpopulation of mouse dLGN cells showing non-linear spatial summation. However, differences in stimulus selectivity and sensitivity do not provide sufficient basis for identification of clearly distinct classes of relay cells. Nevertheless, consistent with presumptively homologous status of dLGNs of all mammals, there are substantial similarities between response properties of mouse dLGN neurons and those of cats and primates.
authors.affiliation: Allen Institute for Brain Science Seattle, WA, USA.
authors.forename: Daniel J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Denman
authors.affiliation: Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Diego
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Contreras
mesh_terms: D000200:Action Potentials / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D001931:Brain Mapping; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D005829:Geniculate Bodies / Q000166:cytology* / Q000502:physiology; D016014:Linear Models; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D009897:Optic Chiasm / Q000502:physiology; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D012160:Retina / Q000502:physiology; D011984:Sensory Receptor Cells / Q000502:physiology*; D014793:Visual Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D014794:Visual Fields / Q000502:physiology*; D014795:Visual Pathways / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: LGN; cell types; mouse models; mouse vision; parallel processing