UC San Diego

One of the fundamental jobs of the brain is to transform stimuli from the external environment into flexible behavioral outputs. In mammals, thalamocortical circuits perform many of the functions that underlie this complex sensory processing. First-order (FO) thalamic nuclei, such as the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus (dLGN), relay incoming signals to the cortex, which generates a percept and motor commands. This initial path from the FO thalamus to the cortex is well understood, but interactions between the cortex and higher-order (HO) nuclei, like the pulvinar, remain a mystery. Competing theories on the role of cortico-pulvino-cortical circuits remain unresolved. One model suggests that HO nuclei serve as relays for information transmission between cortical areas; while the alternative proposes a modulatory function promoted by reciprocal thalamocortical loops. Advances in viral tools for anatomical tracing and targeted perturbation of neuronal activity now allow us to test these hypotheses. This dissertation investigates the anatomical and functional relationship between the pulvinar and extrastriate cortex in the mouse in an attempt to understand the nature of higher-order thalamocortical interactions. In Chapter 1, we map the input/output relationships of distinct projection classes in the pulvinar. Using monosynaptic g-deleted rabies virus, we show that driving layer 5 cortical inputs to the pulvinar are organized as a feedforward, transthalamic relay. We also describe a broad network of modulatory layer 6 inputs which are biased towards reciprocal connections with the pulvinar. Bottom-up input from the superior colliculus (SC) targets every cortical pathway through the pulvinar. Chapter 2 investigates the functional contribution of a pulvinar → extrastriate pathway to visual activity in vivo in awake, passively viewing animals. We selectively target a single pulvinar projection population for optogenetic inactivation and compare the effects to inactivation of the FO pathway. Unlike FO thalamocortical input, which is necessary for sensory transmission, the HO input to cortex is not responsible for sensory responses. Instead, our results support a modulatory, excitatory contribution of the pulvinar to cortical activity. In summary, this study establishes a general framework for the anatomical organization of HO thalamocortical circuits, whereby the pulvinar provides a parallel path between cortical areas and a secondary route for bottom-up visual signals. Our physiological results highlight the folly in inferring circuit function from anatomy alone, however, as this transthalamic pathway does not drive visual activity under passive, head-fixed conditions. Instead, our findings describe a potential driving pathway between sensory cortices which might relay a non-sensory or context-dependent message. Additional functional studies that engage this circuit in active behavioral states will be necessary to solve the puzzle of the pulvinar.