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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 12, 2026

Large Volume, Behaviorally-relevant Illumination for Optogenetics in Non-human Primates

Large Volume, Behaviorally-relevant Illumination for Optogenetics in Non-human Primates

Published on: October 3, 2017

Retrograde Optogenetics Reveals Functional Convergence within a Corticotectal Pathway of Non-Human Primates.

Xuefei Yu¹, Atul Gopal¹, Ken-Ichi Inoue^2,3

¹Laboratory of Sensorimotor Research, National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, United States of America.

Biorxiv : the Preprint Server for Biology

|August 6, 2025

Summary

Researchers used retrograde optogenetics in macaques to study frontal eye field (FEF) outputs to the superior colliculus (SC). Findings reveal FEF-SC pathways carry mixed sensory-motor signals, crucial for guiding behavior and action.

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Published on: February 25, 2022

Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Systems Neuroscience
Primate Research

Background:

Understanding cerebral cortex-subcortical communication is key to explaining behavior.
The nature of prefrontal cortical outputs to motor regions (motor commands vs. sensory-motor signals) is debated.
Retrograde optogenetics is powerful for circuit interrogation but underutilized in primates.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the functional organization of the frontal eye field (FEF) to superior colliculus (SC) projection in awake macaques.
To determine if FEF output to SC is primarily motor-dominant or represents sensory-motor convergence.
To establish retrograde optogenetics as a tool for primate circuit analysis.

Main Methods:

Application of retrograde optogenetics in awake macaques.
Optical activation of the FEF-SC pathway.
Optogenetic tagging of FEF neurons projecting to the SC.

Main Results:

Direct optical activation of the FEF-SC pathway caused contralateral saccades and modulated reaction times, confirming its causal role in saccade generation.
FEF neurons projecting to SC comprised a heterogeneous mix of visual, visuomotor, and motor types.
This diverse FEF output predominantly targeted motor-related neurons within the SC.

Conclusions:

The findings support a visuomotor convergence model for FEF-SC communication.
This study resolves questions about the composition of FEF outputs to subcortical motor regions.
Retrograde optogenetics is validated as a method for dissecting primate projection-defined circuits and probing perception-action pathways.