Optogenetic activation of visual thalamus generates artificial visual percepts
- University of Fribourg, Switzerland
- Northwestern University, United States
Abstract
The lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN), a retinotopic relay center where visual inputs from the retina are processed and relayed to the visual cortex, has been proposed as a potential target for artificial vision. At present, it is unknown whether optogenetic LGN stimulation is sufficient to elicit behaviorally relevant percepts, and the properties of LGN neural responses relevant for artificial vision have not been thoroughly characterized. Here, we demonstrate that tree shrews pretrained on a visual detection task can detect optogenetic LGN activation using an AAV2-CamKIIα-ChR2 construct and readily generalize from visual to optogenetic detection. Simultaneous recordings of LGN spiking activity and primary visual cortex (V1) local field potentials (LFP) during optogenetic LGN stimulation show that LGN neurons reliably follow optogenetic stimulation at frequencies up to 60 Hz, and uncovered a striking phase locking between the V1 local field potential (LFP) and the evoked spiking activity in LGN. These phase relationships were maintained over a broad range of LGN stimulation frequencies, up to 80 Hz, with spike field coherence values favoring higher frequencies, indicating the ability to relay temporally precise information to V1 using light activation of the LGN. Finally, V1 LFP responses showed sensitivity values to LGN optogenetic activation that were similar to the animal's behavioral performance. Taken together, our findings confirm the LGN as a potential target for visual prosthetics in a highly visual mammal closely related to primates.
Data availability
All data used in the production of the figures in this manuscript is freely available at https://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.2z34tmpqk
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Data from: Optogenetic activation of visual thalamus generates artificial visual perceptsryad Digital Repository, doi:10.5061/dryad.2z34tmpqk.
Article and author information
Author details
Abraham Vazquez-Guardado
Funding
SNSF (182504)
- Gregor Rainer
University of Fribourg
- Gregor Rainer
The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.
Reviewing Editor
- Kristine Krug, Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg, Germany
Ethics
Animal experimentation: All procedures for animal experiments were approved by the local ethical committee on animal experimentation, canton of Fribourg. License number:33056
Version history
- Preprint posted: December 8, 2022 (view preprint)
- Received: June 23, 2023
- Accepted: October 3, 2023
- Accepted Manuscript published: October 4, 2023 (version 1)
- Version of Record published: October 23, 2023 (version 2)
Copyright
© 2023, Wang et al.
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.
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Optogenetic activation of visual thalamus generates artificial visual percepts
eLife 12:e90431.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.90431
Further reading
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Asymmetries in the size of structures deep below the cortex explain how alpha oscillations in the brain respond to shifts in attention.
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Evidence suggests that subcortical structures play a role in high-level cognitive functions such as the allocation of spatial attention. While there is abundant evidence in humans for posterior alpha band oscillations being modulated by spatial attention, little is known about how subcortical regions contribute to these oscillatory modulations, particularly under varying conditions of cognitive challenge. In this study, we combined MEG and structural MRI data to investigate the role of subcortical structures in controlling the allocation of attentional resources by employing a cued spatial attention paradigm with varying levels of perceptual load. We asked whether hemispheric lateralization of volumetric measures of the thalamus and basal ganglia predicted the hemispheric modulation of alpha-band power. Lateral asymmetry of the globus pallidus, caudate nucleus, and thalamus predicted attention-related modulations of posterior alpha oscillations. When the perceptual load was applied to the target and the distractor was salient caudate nucleus asymmetry predicted alpha-band modulations. Globus pallidus was predictive of alpha-band modulations when either the target had a high load, or the distractor was salient, but not both. Finally, the asymmetry of the thalamus predicted alpha band modulation when neither component of the task was perceptually demanding. In addition to delivering new insight into the subcortical circuity controlling alpha oscillations with spatial attention, our finding might also have clinical applications. We provide a framework that could be followed for detecting how structural changes in subcortical regions that are associated with neurological disorders can be reflected in the modulation of oscillatory brain activity.
