RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Mapping vestibular and visual contributions to angular head velocity tuning in the cortex
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 2021.04.29.441624
DO 10.1101/2021.04.29.441624
A1 Eivind Hennestad
A1 Aree Witoelar
A1 Anna Chambers
A1 Koen Vervaeke
YR 2021
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/04/30/2021.04.29.441624.abstract
AB Neurons that signal the direction and angular velocity of head movements (AHV cells) are critically important to process visual and spatial information. However, it has been challenging to isolate the sensory modality that drives them and to compre hensively map their cortical distribution. To address this, we developed a method that enables rotating awake, head-fixed mice under a two-photon microscope in a visual environment. Starting in layer 2/3 of the retrosplenial cortex, a key area for vision and navigation, we found that a significant fraction of rotation sensitive neurons report AHV. These tuning properties depend on vestibular input because they persist in darkness and are reduced when replaying visual flow to stationary animals. When mapping the spatial extent, we found AHV cells in all cortical areas that we explored, including motor, somatosensory, visual and posterior parietal cortex. Notably, the vestibular and visual contributions to AHV are area dependent. Thus, many cortical circuits have access to AHV, enabling a diverse integration with sensorimotor and cognitive information.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.