Parvalbumin and Somatostatin Neurons in the Thalamic Reticular Nucleus Modulate Visual Information Processing in V1 of Mouse

Abstract

The thalamic reticular nucleus (TRN) plays a crucial role in regulating sensory encoding, even at the earliest stages of visual processing, as evidenced by numerous studies. Orientation selectivity, a vital neural response, is essential for detecting objects through edge perception. Here, we demonstrate that somatostatin (SOM)-expressing and parvalbumin (PV)-expressing neurons in the TRN project to the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus and modulate orientation selectivity and the capacity for visual information processing in the primary visual cortex (V1). These findings show that SOM-positive and PV-positive neurons in the TRN are powerful modulators of visual information encoding in V1, revealing a novel role for this thalamic nucleus in influencing visual processing.

Keywords: Dorsal lateral geniculate nuclei; Parvalbumin-positive neurons; Primary visual cortex; Receptive field properties; Somatostatin-positive neurons; Thalamic reticular nucleus.