Coordinated head direction representations in mouse anterodorsal thalamic nucleus and retrosplenial cortex

The sense of direction is critical for survival in changing environments and relies on flexibly integrating self-motion signals with external sensory cues. While the anatomical substrates involved in head direction (HD) coding are well known, the mechanisms by which visual information updates HD rep...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:eLife 2024-03, Vol.13
Main Authors: van der Goes, Marie-Sophie H, Voigts, Jakob, Newman, Jonathan P, Toloza, Enrique H S, Brown, Norma J, Murugan, Pranav, Harnett, Mark T
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
anterodorsal thalamus
head direction
Kruskal-Wallis test
Navigation behavior
Neocortex
Neuroscience
Orientation
Orientation (Psychology)
Physiological aspects
retrosplenial cortex
Rodents
Somatosensory cortex
Thalamus
Visual stimuli
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Summary:The sense of direction is critical for survival in changing environments and relies on flexibly integrating self-motion signals with external sensory cues. While the anatomical substrates involved in head direction (HD) coding are well known, the mechanisms by which visual information updates HD representations remain poorly understood. Retrosplenial cortex (RSC) plays a key role in forming coherent representations of space in mammals and it encodes a variety of navigational variables, including HD. Here, we use simultaneous two-area tetrode recording to show that RSC HD representation is nearly synchronous with that of the anterodorsal nucleus of thalamus (ADn), the obligatory thalamic relay of HD to cortex, during rotation of a prominent visual cue. Moreover, coordination of HD representations in the two regions is maintained during darkness. We further show that anatomical and functional connectivity are consistent with a strong feedforward drive of HD information from ADn to RSC, with anatomically restricted corticothalamic feedback. Together, our results indicate a concerted global HD reference update across cortex and thalamus.
ISSN:2050-084X
2050-084X
DOI:10.7554/eLife.82952