CONTEXT-DEPENDENT VISUAL INFORMATION PROCESSING IN DORSOMEDIAL STRIATUM

As animals navigate their environment, they are continuously exposed to many sensory inputs, all integrated to form coherent representations of the environment and guide appropriate actions. Multisensory integration is thus essential for adaptive behavior, and understanding the underlying neural mechanisms remains a critical yet unresolved challenge. While previous work has focused on primary sensory cortices, the dorsomedial striatum (DMS) offers a promising and underexplored model due to its strong convergence of cortical and subcortical sensory inputs. Evidence from unitary recordings indicates that DMS neurons can integrate visual, tactile, and motor-related signals, but how these computations emerge from local network dynamics remains unknown.
We aimed at filling this gap by exploring the integration processing of passive visual information in DMS populations of striatal projection neurons (SPNs) in different sensory contexts. We are recording SPNs activity in response to visual stimuli, using in vivo 2-photon calcium imaging in mice running on a self-paced treadmill enriched with sensory cues. This experimental protocol we designed allows a more naturalistic setting to characterize how visual stimulation integration is modulated by different sensory-enriched conditions. Moreover, we hypothesize that local inhibitory microcircuits could be central in shaping behaviorally relevant ensembles as they efficiently control DMS SPN activity. We recorded reliable responses to visual stimuli in both SPNs and interneurons, with different cell-specific kinetics. At the population level, comparison of the different sensory contexts will highlight modulation of SPN ensembles involved in visual processing. This work will provide new knowledge about the striatum integrative function in sensorimotor processes.