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Calcium Imaging in Mouse Superior Colliculus

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Published on: April 21, 2023

Superior colliculus cells sensitive to active touch and texture during whisking.

Tatiana Bezdudnaya¹, Manuel A Castro-Alamancos

¹Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19129, USA.

Journal of Neurophysiology

|April 29, 2011

Summary

Rats use active whisking for sensing. This study reveals how the barrel cortex and superior colliculus process passive touch, whisking, and active touch for texture discrimination.

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Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Sensory Systems
Somatosensation

Background:

Rats utilize rhythmic vibrissa (whiskers) protractions, known as active whisking, to explore their environment.
Electrical stimulation of the facial motor nerve can simulate active whisking in anesthetized rats, enabling controlled neural response studies.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate neural processing in the barrel cortex and superior colliculus during different phases of whisking and tactile exploration.
To differentiate neural signals related to passive touch, whisking movement, active touch, and texture discrimination.

Main Methods:

Simulated active whisking in anesthetized rats via facial motor nerve electrical stimulation.
Recorded barrel cortex field potentials and superior colliculus single-unit activity.
Analyzed neural responses during passive touch, whisking onset/frequency, and active touch/texture discrimination.

Main Results:

Whisking movement onset elicits short-latency barrel cortex and superior colliculus responses, adapting with increased whisking frequency.
Active touch and texture are signaled by longer-latency responses.
Superior colliculus responds during protraction's rising phase (trigeminotectal input), while barrel cortex responds during the falling phase.

Conclusions:

The superior colliculus is integral to the vibrissa neural network for processing sensory information.
This network decodes whisking movement, distinguishes active touch, and discriminates textures.
Neural pathways adapt to whisking frequency, suggesting efficient sensory processing.