Anatomical and Functional Interrogation of Parallel Visual Pathways from Eye to Brain

项目总结/摘要 这项提案的长期目标是表征小鼠视觉系统中特定回路的连通性 从小鼠到灵长类动物的总体结构高度保守的系统。目标是 为了识别从视网膜通过视网膜的不同区域传输视觉信息的神经回路， 背外侧膝状体核（dLGN），初级视觉皮层（V1）中的特定神经元群体 对视觉感知和行为有影响的这个建议的核心假设是：（1）神经元 在dLGN的壳和核中，从视网膜接收不同类型的视觉信息，因此， V1神经元可以传递不同类型的视觉信息;（2）V1神经元的核心和外壳输入的平衡 神经元接收影响其调谐特性。本提案中概述的实验将测试这些 通过追求三个具体目标来实现假设：（1）识别和表征视网膜神经节细胞（RGC） 为dLGN核心的神经元提供输入的类型，以及那些dLGN神经元 （2）确定V1中的遗传识别的神经元是否接收来自独特模式的输入 以及（3）确定来自dLGN核心中的神经元的输入如何影响RGC的调谐特性。 基因鉴定的V1神经元群体。该提案在技术上具有创新性;它将使用新颖的 小鼠系以及狂犬病电路追踪、全细胞记录、光遗传学刺激 化学基因沉默和双光子钙成像来实现其目的。拟议的研究将 产生重要的发现，将提供相当多的洞察信息是如何编码，处理， 最终通过小鼠视觉通路传递。这些发现至关重要，因为 在这些路径中执行的计算生成视觉场景的表示， 对感知和行为的典型贡献。拟议的研究还将有助于确定 小鼠视觉系统中的视觉处理是否模仿小鼠视觉系统中的视觉处理的程度。 灵长类视觉系统理解在视觉通路中执行计算的程度 小鼠和灵长类动物视觉系统的重叠对于确定如何在小鼠中进行研究至关重要。 视觉系统转化为灵长类动物--也就是人类--的视觉系统。事实上， 制定战略，以恢复视力，在广泛的痛苦的视觉系统，这是至关重要的第一 了解视觉系统如何产生我们对周围世界的感觉。这里提出的工作将 毫不含糊地让我们更接近这一目标。

Project Summary/Abstract The long-term goal of this proposal is to characterize the connectivity of specific circuits in the mouse visual system whose gross architecture is highly conserved across species from mouse to primate. The objective is to identify the neural circuits that transmit visual information from the retina, through different regions of the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus (dLGN), to specific populations of neurons in the primary visual cortex (V1) that contribute to visual perception and behavior. The central hypotheses of this proposal are: (1) that neurons in the shell and core of the dLGN receive different types of visual information from the retina and, therefore, can transmit different types of visual information to V1 neurons; (2) The balance of core and shell input that V1 neurons receive influences their tuning properties. The experiments outlined in this proposal will test these hypotheses by pursuing three specific aims: (1) Identifying and characterizing the retinal ganglion cell (RGC) types that provide input to neurons in the core of the dLGN, as well as the neurons that those dLGN neurons contact in V1; (2) Determining whether genetically-identified neurons in V1 receive input from unique patterns of RGCs; and (3) Determining how input from neurons in the core of the dLGN influence tuning properties in genetically-identified populations of V1 neurons. This proposal is technologically innovative; it will use novel mouse lines as well as a combination of rabies circuit tracing, whole-cell recording, optogenetic stimulation, chemogenetic silencing, and two-photon calcium imaging to accomplish its aims. The proposed research will yield significant findings that will provide considerable insight into how information is encoded, processed, and ultimately transmitted throughout the mouse visual pathway. These findings are of utmost importance as the computations performed in these pathways generate a representation of the visual scene and ultimately make characteristic contributions to perception and behavior. The proposed research will also help determine the extent to which visual processing in the mouse visual system does, or does not, mimic visual processing in the primate visual system. Understanding the extent to which computations performed in the visual pathway overlap in mouse and primate visual systems is critical for determining how research done in in the mouse visual system translates to the primate — and therefore human — visual system. Indeed, to successfully develop strategies to restore sight across a wide range of afflictions of the visual system, it is critical to first understand how the visual system gives rise to our sense of the world around us. The work proposed here will unequivocally move us closer to this goal.