Topic: orientation preference

Astrocytes are dynamic cells that closely interact with neurons and play major roles in brain functions. Although their involvement in sensory processing has been highlighted in different brain regions, their contribution to vision processing remains poorly explored in the superior colliculus (SC), a central structure of the mouse visual system. We here report that astrocytes from the retinorecipient layers of the SC form particularly extensive networks that are mediated by stronger expression of the gap-junction connexins 30 and 43, compared to astrocytes from other brain areas. Furthermore,

Functional ultrasound imaging (fUSI) can record neuronal activity down to 20 mm depth in the brain, at finer resolution than functional magnetic resonance imaging. We developed an acquisition add-on, analysis and visualization pipeline that allows efficient identification of anatomical and functional layout of the brain in 3D. Leveraging the high signal quality of fUSI, we asked whether the acquisition of multi-cm 3D functional maps can be made compatible with chronic anesthetized experiment design. Since availability of large-brained species is low and their behavioral training can be prohibi

In adult mouse visual cortex, neuronal responses to visual stimuli undergo gradual and continuous changes over time. This phenomenon called “representational drift” has also been observed in other sensory and higher cortical areas and has profound implications for coding strategies in the brain.It is unknown which tuning feature changes of individual neurons underlie representational drift in the primary visual cortex (V1), and what regulates their drift. Using repeated 2-photon calcium imaging in awake mice, we show a slow, time-dependent drift of the preferred orientation of V1 neurons over

Cortical visual prostheses are designed to restore vision by stimulating neurons, inducing visual perceptions in people with impaired vision. To obtain useful visual perception, it is essential to induce, through stimulation, activity that closely mimics that of natural vision. Existing V1 prostheses stimulation strategies primarily focus on retinotopic stimulation, overlooking other important encoding properties and thereby failing to replicate the complex neural activity patterns of natural vision. Our work introduces a novel stimulation protocol that targets cortical tissue according to bot