Neuronale Grundlagen visueller Informationsverarbeitung im retrosplenialen Cortex
Zusammenfassung der Projektergebnisse
My research project at the Sainsbury Welcome Centre for Neural Circuits and Behaviour focused on investigating the interactions between the retrosplenial cortex (RSP) and visual cortical and thalamic areas. The RSP is a multisensory brain region implicated in spatial navigation and orientation. My primary aim was to elucidate the nature of visual signals relayed to RSP and how these signals are represented within this brain area. My study employed sophisticated techniques to map the anatomical organization of projections from visual areas to distinct neuronal populations in RSP and to characterize these neurons' responses to visual stimuli. Specifically, I employed retrograde transsynaptic tracing to map the projections from cortical and thalamic visual areas to RSP, alongside a cross-platform analysis pipeline developed for high-resolution optical microscopy data sets. Furthermore, I recorded visual responses of RSP neurons in awake, head-fixed mice using viral constructs expressing GCaMP7f to characterise their tuning to different visual stimuli. My research revealed previously unknown, detailed insights into the structural connections and functional properties of RSP neurons. I found that visual cortical projections predominantly target deeper layers in RSP while thalamic inputs are more commonly found in superficial layers. This layered specificity suggests a complex integration of visual information within RSP. Functionally, despite anatomical differences in the projections to distinct RSP layers, neurons across layers exhibited a high selectivity with similar response characteristics. Having initially planned to develop a behavioural paradigm to evaluate the role of anatomically distinct visual inputs in navigation, my project's focus shifted due to findings that anatomical differences did not result in major functional disparities among target neuron populations. Instead, I made use of detailed anatomical insights gained from my retrograde tracing experiments to study the multisensory integration of motor, vestibular and visual sensory inputs in RSP during linear translation movements in mice. In conclusion, my project has contributed a substantial amount of knowledge to our understanding of visual information processing in RSP in hitherto unknown detail and will form an important basis for any research that aims to answer questions about how visual information supports spatial navigation in mammals.
Projektbezogene Publikationen (Auswahl)
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A deep learning algorithm for 3D cell detection in whole mouse brain image datasets. PLOS Computational Biology, 17(5), e1009074.
Tyson, Adam L.; Rousseau, Charly V.; Niedworok, Christian J.; Keshavarzi, Sepiedeh; Tsitoura, Chryssanthi; Cossell, Lee; Strom, Molly & Margrie, Troy W.
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Accurate determination of marker location within whole-brain microscopy images. Scientific Reports, 12(1).
Tyson, Adam L.; Vélez-Fort, Mateo; Rousseau, Charly V.; Cossell, Lee; Tsitoura, Chryssanthi; Lenzi, Stephen C.; Obenhaus, Horst A.; Claudi, Federico; Branco, Tiago & Margrie, Troy W.
