scholarly journals Time-course of population activity along the dorsoventral extent of the superior colliculus during delayed saccade tasks

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Corentin Massot ◽  
Uday K. Jagadisan ◽  
Neeraj J. Gandhi

AbstractThe superior colliculus (SC) is an excellent substrate to study functional organization of sensorimotor transformations. We used linear multi-contact array recordings to analyze the spatial and temporal properties of population activity along the SC dorsoventral axis during delayed saccade tasks. During the visual epoch, information appeared first in dorsal layers and systematically later in ventral layers. In the ensuing delay period, the laminar organization of low-spiking rate activity matched that of the visual epoch. During the pre-saccadic epoch, spiking activity emerged first in a more ventral layer, ∼100ms before saccade onset. This buildup of activity appeared later on nearby neurons situated both dorsally and ventrally, culminating in a synchronous burst across the dorsoventral axis, ∼28ms before saccade onset. Stimulation of individual contacts on the laminar probe produced saccades of similar vectors. Collectively, the results reveal a principled spatiotemporal organization of SC population activity underlying sensorimotor transformation for the control of gaze.

2008 ◽  
Vol 100 (2) ◽  
pp. 1098-1112 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ping Liu ◽  
Michele A. Basso

The inhibitory drive arising from the basal ganglia is thought to prevent the occurrence of orienting movements of the eyes, head, and body in monkeys and other mammals. The direct projection from the substantia nigra pars reticulata (SNr) to the superior colliculus (SC) mediates the inhibition. Since the original experiments in the SNr of monkeys the buildup or prelude neuron has been a focus of SC research. However, whether the SNr influences buildup neurons in SC is unknown. Furthermore, a contralateral SNr–SC pathway is evident in many species but remains unexplored in the alert monkey. Here we introduced electrical stimulation of one or both SNr nuclei while recording from SC buildup neurons. Stimulation of the SNr reduced the discharge rate of SC buildup neurons bilaterally. This result is consistent with activation of an inhibitory drive from SNr to SC. The time course of the influence of ipsilateral SNr on the activity of most SC neurons was longer (∼73 ms) than the influence of the contralateral SNr (∼34 ms). We also found that the variability of saccade onset time and saccade direction was altered with electrical stimulation of the SNr. Taken together our results show that electrical stimulation activates the inhibitory output of the SNr that in turn, reduces the activity of SC buildup neurons in both hemispheres. However, rather than acting as a gate for saccade initiation, the results suggest that the influence of SNr inhibition on visually guided saccades is more subtle, shaping the balance of excitation and inhibition across the SC.


1993 ◽  
Vol 69 (3) ◽  
pp. 953-964 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. W. Glimcher ◽  
D. L. Sparks

1. The first experiment of this study determined the effects of low-frequency stimulation of the monkey superior colliculus on spontaneous saccades in the dark. Stimulation trains, subthreshold for eliciting short-latency fixed-vector saccades, were highly effective at biasing the metrics (direction and amplitude) of spontaneous movements. During low-frequency stimulation, the distribution of saccade metrics was biased toward the direction and amplitude of movements induced by suprathreshold stimulation of the same collicular location. 2. Low-frequency stimulation biased the distribution of saccade metrics but did not initiate movements. The distribution of intervals between stimulation onset and the onset of the next saccade did not differ significantly from the distribution of intervals between an arbitrary point in time and the onset of the next saccade under unstimulated conditions. 3. Results of our second experiment indicate that low-frequency stimulation also influenced the metrics of visually guided saccades. The magnitude of the stimulation-induced bias increased as stimulation current or frequency was increased. 4. The time course of these effects was analyzed by terminating stimulation immediately before, during, or after visually guided saccades. Stimulation trains terminated at the onset of a movement were as effective as stimulation trains that continued throughout the movement. No effects were observed if stimulation ended 40–60 ms before the movement began. 5. These results show that low-frequency collicular stimulation can influence the direction and amplitude of spontaneous or visually guided saccades without initiating a movement. These data are compatible with the hypothesis that the collicular activity responsible for specifying the horizontal and vertical amplitude of a saccade differs from the type of collicular activity that initiates a saccade.


2004 ◽  
Vol 92 (4) ◽  
pp. 2261-2273 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yoshiko Izawa ◽  
Hisao Suzuki ◽  
Yoshikazu Shinoda

To understand the neural mechanism of fixation, we investigated effects of electrical stimulation of the frontal eye field (FEF) and its vicinity on visually guided (Vsacs) and memory-guided saccades (Msacs) in trained monkeys and found that there were two types of suppression induced by the electrical stimulation: suppression of ipsilateral saccades and suppression of bilateral saccades. In this report, we characterized the properties of the suppression of bilateral Vsacs and Msacs. Stimulation of the bilateral suppression sites suppressed the initiation of both Vsacs and Msacs in all directions during and ∼50 ms after stimulation but did not affect the vector of these saccades. The suppression was stronger for ipsiversive larger saccades and contraversive smaller saccades, and saccades with initial eye positions shifted more in the saccadic direction. The most effective stimulation timing for the suppression of ipsilateral and contralateral Vsacs was ∼40–50 ms before saccade onset, indicating that the suppression occurred most likely in the superior colliculus and/or the paramedian pontine reticular formation. Suppression sites of bilateral saccades were located in the prearcuate gyrus facing the inferior arcuate sulcus where stimulation induced suppression at ≤40 μA but usually did not evoke any saccades at 80 μA and were different from those of ipsilateral saccades where stimulation evoked saccades at ≤50 μA. The bilateral suppression sites contained fixation neurons. The results suggest that fixation neurons in the bilateral suppression area of the FEF may play roles in maintaining fixation by suppressing saccades in all directions.


1999 ◽  
Vol 82 (6) ◽  
pp. 3254-3267 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neeraj J. Gandhi ◽  
Edward L. Keller

Stimulation of the rostral ∼2 mm of the superior colliculus (SC) during a large, visual target-initiated saccade produces a spatial deviation of the ongoing saccade and then stops it in midflight. After the termination of the stimulation, the saccade resumes and ends near the location of the flashed target. The density of collicular projections to the omnipause neuron (OPN) region is greatest from the rostral SC and decreases gradually for the more caudal regions. It has been hypothesized that the microstimulation excites the OPNs through these direct connections, and the reactivation of OPNs, which are normally silent during saccades, stops the initial component in midflight by gating off the saccadic burst generator. Two predictions emerge from this hypothesis: 1) for microstimulation triggered on the onset of large saccades, the time from stimulation onset to resumption of OPN discharge should decrease as the stimulation site is moved rostral and 2) the lead time from reactivation of OPNs to the end of the initial saccade on stimulation trials should be equal to the lead time of pause end with respect to the end of control saccades. We tested this hypothesis by recording OPN activity during saccades perturbed by stimulation of the rostral ∼2 mm of the SC. The distance of the stimulation site from the most rostral extent of the SC and the time of reactivation with respect to stimulation onset were not significantly correlated. The mean lead of reactivation of OPNs relative to the end of the initial component of perturbed saccades (6.5 ms) was significantly less than the mean lead with respect to the end of control (9.6 ms) and resumed saccades (10.4 ms). These results do not support the notion that the excitatory input from SC neurons—in particular, the fixation neurons in the rostral SC—provide the major signal to reactivate OPNs and end saccades. An alternative, conceptual model to explain the temporal sequence of events induced by stimulation of the SC during large saccades is presented. Other OPN activity parameters also were measured and compared for control and stimulation conditions. The onset of pause with respect to resumed saccade onset was larger and more variable than the onset of pause with respect to control saccades, whereas pause end with respect to the end of resumed and control saccades was similar. The reactivated discharge of OPNs during the period between the end of the initial and the onset of the resumed saccades was at least as strong as that following control movements. This latter observation is interpreted in terms of the resettable neural integrator hypothesis.


1988 ◽  
Vol 66 (5) ◽  
pp. 527-531 ◽  
Author(s):  
David L. Sparks

Recent findings concerning the anatomical and functional organization of the deep division of the primate superior colliculus are summarized. These data are interpreted as supporting the hypothesis that the deeper layers of the superior colliculus are organized in motor, rather than sensory, coordinates. According to this hypothesis, a dynamic remapping of sensory signals is required for interfacing with the map of motor error space contained in the superior colliculus


1992 ◽  
Vol 68 (05) ◽  
pp. 545-549 ◽  
Author(s):  
W L Chandler ◽  
S C Loo ◽  
D Mornin

SummaryThe purpose of this study was to determine whether different regions of the rabbit vascular system show variations in the rate of plasminogen activator (PA) secretion. To start, we evaluated the time course, dose response and adrenergic specificity of PA release. Infusion of 1 µg/kg of epinephrine stimulated a 116 ± 60% (SD) increase in PA activity that peaked 30 to 60 s after epinephrine administration. Infusion of 1 µg/kg of norepinephrine, isoproterenol and phenylephrine had no effect on PA activity. Pretreatment with phentolamine, an alpha adrenergic antagonist, blocked the release of PA by epinephrine while pretreatment with the beta blocker propranolol had no effect. This suggests that PA release in the rabbit was mediated by some form of alpha receptor.Significant arterio-venous differences in basal PA activity were found across the pulmonary and splanchnic vascular beds but not the lower extremity/pelvic bed. After stimulation with epinephrine, PA activity increased 46% across the splanchnic bed while no change was seen across the lower extremity/pelvic bed. We conclude that several vascular beds contribute to circulating PA activity in the rabbit, and that these beds secrete PA at different rates under both basal and stimulated conditions.


1962 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-12
Author(s):  
J. M. Langlois ◽  
Guy Lamarche

The projections of the trigeminal nerve in the pontine reticular formation of the cat have been investigated by recording unit activity, after physiological stimulation of the face, in 30 "encéphales isolés" preparations. No somatotopical arrangement was found but a high degree of spatial convergence onto pontine reticular units exists and a certain degree of functional organization was observed.


2012 ◽  
Vol 107 (9) ◽  
pp. 2442-2452 ◽  
Author(s):  
Husam A. Katnani ◽  
A. J. Van Opstal ◽  
Neeraj J. Gandhi

Population coding is a ubiquitous principle in the nervous system for the proper control of motor behavior. A significant amount of research is dedicated to studying population activity in the superior colliculus (SC) to investigate the motor control of saccadic eye movements. Vector summation with saturation (VSS) has been proposed as a mechanism for how population activity in the SC can be decoded to generate saccades. Interestingly, the model produces different predictions when decoding two simultaneous populations at high vs. low levels of activity. We tested these predictions by generating two simultaneous populations in the SC with high or low levels of dual microstimulation. We also combined varying levels of stimulation with visually induced activity. We found that our results did not perfectly conform to the predictions of the VSS scheme and conclude that the simplest implementation of the model is incomplete. We propose that additional parameters to the model might account for the results of this investigation.


2005 ◽  
Vol 93 (1) ◽  
pp. 519-534 ◽  
Author(s):  
Masayuki Watanabe ◽  
Yasushi Kobayashi ◽  
Yuka Inoue ◽  
Tadashi Isa

To examine the role of competitive and cooperative neural interactions within the intermediate layer of superior colliculus (SC), we elevated the basal SC neuronal activity by locally injecting a cholinergic agonist nicotine and analyzed its effects on saccade performance. After microinjection, spontaneous saccades were directed toward the movement field of neurons at the injection site (affected area). For visually guided saccades, reaction times were decreased when targets were presented close to the affected area. However, when visual targets were presented remote from the affected area, reaction times were not increased regardless of the rostrocaudal level of the injection sites. The endpoints of visually guided saccades were biased toward the affected area when targets were presented close to the affected area. After this endpoint effect diminished, the trajectories of visually guided saccades remained modestly curved toward the affected area. Compared with the effects on endpoints, the effects on reaction times were more localized to the targets close to the affected area. These results are consistent with a model that saccades are triggered by the activities of neurons within a restricted region, and the endpoints and trajectories of the saccades are determined by the widespread population activity in the SC. However, because increased reaction times were not observed for saccades toward targets remote from the affected area, inhibitory interactions in the SC may not be strong enough to shape the spatial distribution of the low-frequency preparatory activities in the SC.


1996 ◽  
Vol 318 (2) ◽  
pp. 723-728 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michel PUCEAT ◽  
Guy VASSORT

Phospholipase Cγ (PLCγ) expression and activation by a purinergic agonist were investigated in adult rat cardiomyocytes. PLCγ is expressed in isolated cardiomyocytes. Stimulation of cells with extracellular ATP induces a rapid increase in membrane-associated PLCγ immunoreactivity most probably due to redistribution of the lipase from the cytosol to the membrane. The purine triggers a significant phosphorylation on tyrosine residues of a cytosolic pool of PLCγ with a time course that correlates with that of translocation. Extracellular ATP also increases intracellular Ins(1,4,5)P3 content. All these events (translocation and phosphorylation of PLCγ, InsP3 formation) are blocked by genistein, a tyrosine kinase inhibitor. The purinergic effect on both PLCγ translocation and phosphorylation are Ca-sensitive. We thus propose that the purinergic stimulation activates a non-receptor tyrosine kinase that phosphorylates PLCγ in the presence of an increased Ca level and induces PLCγ redistribution to the membrane. There, PLCγ becomes activated leading to the hydrolysis of phosphatidylinositol diphosphate and in turn Ins(1,4,5)P3 formation. This cascade of events may play a significant role in the induction of arrhythmogenesis by purinergic agonists.


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