Differential architecture of multisynaptic geniculo-cortical pathways to V4 and MT

Parallel visual pathways in the primate brain known as the dorsal and ventral streams receive retinal inputs mainly through the magnocellular (M) and parvocellular (P) layers of the lateral geniculate nucleus. Inputs from these layers terminate within distinct parts of layer 4C of V1 (visual area 1). Due to the complexity of M- and P-derived neural connectivity in V1 and higher visual areas, the contributions of M and P inputs to the dorsal and ventral streams remain unclear. Employing retrograde transsynaptic transport of rabies virus, we analyzed the architecture of bottom-up pathways toward ventral stream area V4 (visual area 4) and dorsal stream area MT (middle temporal area). We found that V4 receives both M and P inputs "trisynaptically" from layer 4C via layer 2/3 of V1, whereas MT receives M-dominant input "disynaptically" from layer 4C via layer 4B of V1. V4 also receives disynaptic input from the dorsal stream portion of V2 (visual area 2) (i.e., cytochrome oxidase-stained thick stripes). Moreover, both M and P inputs reach V4 trisynaptically and MT disynaptically through "short-cut" pathways that bypass layer 4C of V1. The differential patterns of multisynaptic geniculo-cortical pathways to V4 and MT imply distinct modes of information processing in the dorsal and ventral streams.