Passive eye displacement alters auditory spatial receptive fields of cat superior colliculus neurons

10.1038/nn773 ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 4 (12) ◽  
pp. 1167-1169 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Curtis Zella ◽  
John F. Brugge ◽  
Jan W. H. Schnupp
Keyword(s):  
Superior Colliculus ◽  
Receptive Fields ◽  
Superior Colliculus Neurons ◽  
Cat Superior Colliculus

Ultrastructure of developing visual cortical synapses in the cat superior colliculus

1991 ◽  
Vol 49 ◽  
pp. 156-157
Author(s):  
Caroline A. Miller ◽  
Laura L. Bruce
Keyword(s):  
Superior Colliculus ◽  
Phosphate Buffer ◽  
Receptive Fields ◽  
Visual Cortical Area ◽  
Cortical Synapses ◽  
Visual Cortical ◽  
And Function ◽  
Phosphate Buffered Saline ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Cat Superior Colliculus

The first visual cortical axons arrive in the cat superior colliculus by the time of birth. Adultlike receptive fields develop slowly over several weeks following birth. The developing cortical axons go through a sequence of changes before acquiring their adultlike morphology and function. To determine how these axons interact with neurons in the colliculus, cortico-collicular axons were labeled with biocytin (an anterograde neuronal tracer) and studied with electron microscopy.Deeply anesthetized animals received 200-500 nl injections of biocytin (Sigma; 5% in phosphate buffer) in the lateral suprasylvian visual cortical area. After a 24 hr survival time, the animals were deeply anesthetized and perfused with 0.9% phosphate buffered saline followed by fixation with a solution of 1.25% glutaraldehyde and 1.0% paraformaldehyde in 0.1M phosphate buffer. The brain was sectioned transversely on a vibratome at 50 μm. The tissue was processed immediately to visualize the biocytin.

Mechanisms of Within- and Cross-Modality Suppression in the Superior Colliculus

1997 ◽  
Vol 78 (6) ◽  
pp. 2834-2847 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel C. Kadunce ◽  
J. William Vaughan ◽  
Mark T. Wallace ◽  
Gyorgy Benedek ◽  
Barry E. Stein
Keyword(s):  
Superior Colliculus ◽  
Visual Stimulus ◽  
Receptive Fields ◽  
Specific Interest ◽  
Input Channel ◽  
Modality Effects ◽  
Excitatory Stimulus ◽  
Modality Specificity ◽  
Cat Superior Colliculus ◽  
Close Temporal Proximity

Kadunce, Daniel C., J. William Vaughan, Mark T. Wallace, Gyorgy Benedek, and Barry E. Stein. Mechanisms of within- and cross-modality suppression in the superior colliculus. J. Neurophysiol. 78: 2834–2847, 1997. The present studies were initiated to explore the basis for the response suppression that occurs in cat superior colliculus (SC) neurons when two spatially disparate stimuli are presented simultaneously or in close temporal proximity to one another. Of specific interest was examining the possibility that suppressive regions border the receptive fields (RFs) of unimodal and multisensory SC neurons and, when activated, degrade the neuron's responses to excitatory stimuli. Both within- and cross-modality effects were examined. An example of the former is when a response to a visual stimulus within its RF is suppressed by a second visual stimulus outside the RF. An example of the latter is when the response to a visual stimulus within the visual RF is suppressed when a stimulus from a different modality (e.g., auditory) is presented outside its (i.e., auditory) RF. Suppressive regions were found bordering visual, auditory, and somatosensory RFs. Despite significant modality-specific differences in the incidence and effectiveness of these regions, they were generally quite potent regardless of the modality. In the vast majority (85%) of cases, responses to the excitatory stimulus were degraded by ≥50% by simultaneously stimulating the suppressive region. Contrary to expectations and previous speculations, the effects of activating these suppressive regions often were quite specific. Thus powerful within-modality suppression could be demonstrated in many multisensory neurons in which cross-modality suppression could not be generated. However, the converse was not true. If an extra-RF stimulus inhibited center responses to stimuli of a different modality, it also would suppress center responses to stimuli of its own modality. Thus when cross-modality suppression was demonstrated, it was always accompanied by within-modality suppression. These observations suggest that separate mechanisms underlie within- and cross-modality suppression in the SC. Because some modality-specific tectopetal structures contain neurons with suppressive regions bordering their RFs, the within-modality suppression observed in the SC simply may reflect interactions taking place at the level of one input channel. However, the presence of modality-specific suppression at the level of one input channel would have no effect on the excitation initiated via another input channel. Given the modality-specificity of tectopetal inputs, it appears that cross-modality interactions require the convergence of two or more modality-specific inputs onto the same SC neuron and that the expression of these interactions depends on the internal circuitry of the SC. This allows a cross-modality suppressive signal to be nonspecific and to degrade any and all of the neuron's excitatory inputs.

Responses of rabbit superior colliculus neurons to repeated visual stimuli

1975 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 301-312 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. W. Oyster ◽  
E. S. Takahashi
Keyword(s):  
Superior Colliculus ◽  
Visual Stimulus ◽  
Decay Time ◽  
Spontaneous Recovery ◽  
Receptive Fields ◽  
Stimulus Frequency ◽  
Habituation Rate ◽  
Rate Dependent ◽  
Superior Colliculus Neurons ◽  
Made In

It has been shown that cells in the superficial layers of the superior colliculus exhibit response decrements when a visual stimulus is repeated. These response decrements have some of the properties associated with habituation, in particular, 1) spontaneous recovery and 2) habituation rate dependent on stimulus frequency. These observations have been made in two classes of neurons; direction-selective cells and so-called modified concentric cells. All of these neurons had small receptive fields and well-defined response properties. Some neurons in both the direction-selective and modified concentric groups do not show habituation. On the basis of area-threshold curves and other observations, it is suggested that those neurons which habituate possess strong inhibitory inputs which are weak or lacking in thenonhabituating neurons. This generalization leads to a hypothesis that inhibition in the superior colliculus has a long decay time and that a response to a given stimulus is affected by inhibition activated by preceding stimuli.

scholarly journals Neonatal Cortical Ablation Disrupts Multisensory Development in Superior Colliculus

2006 ◽  
Vol 95 (3) ◽  
pp. 1380-1396 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wan Jiang ◽  
Huai Jiang ◽  
Barry E. Stein
Keyword(s):  
Superior Colliculus ◽  
Normal Development ◽  
Receptive Fields ◽  
Early Ontogeny ◽  
Neonatal Brain ◽  
Anterior Ectosylvian Sulcus ◽  
Cortical Ablation ◽  
Cat Superior Colliculus ◽  
Multisensory Processes ◽  
Normal Adults

The ability of cat superior colliculus (SC) neurons to synthesize information from different senses depends on influences from two areas of the cortex: the anterior ectosylvian sulcus (AES) and the rostral lateral suprasylvian sulcus (rLS). Reversibly deactivating the inputs to the SC from either of these areas in normal adults severely compromises this ability and the SC-mediated behaviors that depend on it. In this study, we found that removal of these areas in neonatal animals precluded the normal development of multisensory SC processes. At maturity there was a substantial decrease in the incidence of multisensory neurons, and those multisensory neurons that did develop were highly abnormal. Their cross-modal receptive field register was severely compromised, as was their ability to integrate cross-modal stimuli. Apparently, despite the impressive plasticity of the neonatal brain, it cannot compensate for the early loss of these cortices. Surprisingly, however, neonatal removal of either AES or rLS had comparatively minor consequences on these properties. At maturity multisensory SC neurons were quite common: they developed the characteristic spatial register among their unisensory receptive fields and exhibited normal adult-like multisensory integration. These observations suggest that during early ontogeny, when the multisensory properties of SC neurons are being crafted, AES and rLS may have the ability to compensate for the loss of one another's cortico-collicular influences so that normal multisensory processes can develop in the SC.

Effects of monocular lid closure on development of receptive-field characteristics of neurons in rabbit superior colliculus

1978 ◽  
Vol 41 (6) ◽  
pp. 1359-1372 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. C. Fox ◽  
K. L. Chow ◽  
A. S. Kelly
Keyword(s):  
Receptive Field ◽  
Superior Colliculus ◽  
Relative Frequency ◽  
Receptive Fields ◽  
Relative Number ◽  
Cell Types ◽  
Progressive Increase ◽  
Uniform Motion ◽  
Adult Level ◽  
Superior Colliculus Neurons

1. The receptive-field characteristics of superior colliculus neurons were studied in rabbit pups that had one eyelid sutured prior to eye opening. Units recorded from the superior colliculus (SC) receiving input from the unsutured eye provided normal developmental data, and those from the colliculus receiving input from the sutured eye were used to study the effect of visual deprivation. 2. A total of 1,054 cells recorded from 89 animals ranging in age from 7 to 35 days were obtained, 514 cells in the normal colliculus and 540 cells in the deprived colliculus. During normal development, three nonoriented cell types (concentric, uniform, motion) showed a progressive increase in relative frequency of occurrence, starting at about 7 days and reaching the adult level at about 15 days. Directionally selective cells developed slightly later, reaching an adult level at 3 wk. Oriented directional cells were the slowest to mature, requiring about 4 wk to reach the final level. 3. Eyelid suturing significantly affected the oriented directional cell development; these cells developed at a normal rate for about 3 wk, then rather abruptly began to decrease in number; a stable relative frequency of about one-fourth the normal value was reached at about 4 wk. A corresponding increase in the relative number of indefinite cells to above the normal level also occurred. In contrast, the development of nonoriented cells and directionally selective cells was not affected by the deprivation. 4. The development of rabbit superior colliculus receptive fields was found to be, in general, similar to development of kitten SC receptive fields. It also correlates well with developmental changes seen in rabbit ganglion cell receptive fields and with anatomical changes in developing rabbit SC. Indirect support is given for the hypothesis that changes seen in SC with deprivation are secondary to changes in the visual cortex.

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