Visual Cortex Modulates the Magnitude but Not the Selectivity of Looming-Evoked Responses in the Superior Colliculus of Awake Mice

摘要: Neural circuits in the brain often receive inputs from multiple sources, such as bottom-up input early processing stages and top-down higher-order areas. Here we study function of mouse superior colliculus (SC), which receives convergent retina visual cortex. Neurons superficial SC display robust responses speed tuning to looming stimuli that mimic approaching objects. The looming-evoked are reduced by almost half when cortex is optogenetically silenced awake, but not anesthetized, mice. Silencing does change neurons, or response time course, except at lowest tested speed. Furthermore, regulation corticotectal organized retinotopically. This effect revealed may thus provide a potential substrate for cortex, an evolutionarily new structure, modulate SC-mediated behaviors.