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The Journal of Neuroscience, April 29, 2009, 29(17):5701-5709; doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0247-09.2009

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Behavioral/Systems/Cognitive
Short-Latency Visual Input to the Subthalamic Nucleus Is Provided by the Midbrain Superior Colliculus

Véronique Coizet,^1,2 John H. Graham,³ Jonathan Moss,⁴ J. Paul Bolam,⁴ Marc Savasta,² John G. McHaffie,⁵ Peter Redgrave,¹ and Paul G. Overton¹

¹Department of Psychology, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2TP, United Kingdom, ²Inserm U836, Grenoble Institute of Neurosciences, Joseph Fourier University, Grenoble 38042, France, ³Department of Biology, King College, Bristol, Tennessee 37620, ⁴Medical Research Council Anatomical Neuropharmacology Unit, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3TH, United Kingdom, and ⁵Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina 27157

Correspondence should be addressed to Paul G. Overton, Department of Psychology, University of Sheffield, Western Bank, Sheffield, South Yorkshire S10 2TP, UK. Email: p.g.overton{at}sheffield.ac.uk

The subthalamic nucleus (STN) is one of the principal input nuclei of the basal ganglia. Using electrophysiological techniques in anesthetized rats, we show that the STN becomes responsive to visual stimuli at short latencies when local disinhibitory injections are made into the midbrain superior colliculus (SC), an important subcortical visual structure. Significantly, only injections into the lateral, but not medial, deep layers of the SC were effective. Corresponding disinhibition of primary visual cortex also was ineffective. Complementary anatomical analyses revealed a strong, regionally specific projection from the deep layers of the lateral SC to neurons in rostral and dorsal sectors of the STN. Given the retinocentric organization of the SC, these results suggest that lower-field stimuli represented in the lateral colliculus have a direct means of communicating with the basal ganglia via the STN that is not afforded to visual events occurring in the upper visual field.

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Received Dec. 11, 2008; revised Feb. 27, 2009; accepted April 2, 2009.

Correspondence should be addressed to Paul G. Overton, Department of Psychology, University of Sheffield, Western Bank, Sheffield, South Yorkshire S10 2TP, UK. Email: p.g.overton{at}sheffield.ac.uk

This article has been cited by other articles:

				S. Lardeux, R. Pernaud, D. Paleressompoulle, and C. Baunez Beyond the Reward Pathway: Coding Reward Magnitude and Error in the Rat Subthalamic Nucleus J Neurophysiol, October 1, 2009; 102(4): 2526 - 2537. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

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