Hierarchical sensory processing in zebrafish thalamocortical-like circuits
5 affiliations
- 1Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience and Centre for Algorithms in the Cortex, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
- 2Graduate School of Health Sciences, Koç University, Istanbul, Turkey
- 3Choju Medical Institute, Fukushimura Hospital, Toyohashi, Japan
- 4Laboratory of Molecular and Developmental Biology, National Institute of Genetics, Mishima, Japan
- 5Koç University Research Center for Translational Medicine, Koç University School of Medicine, Istanbul, Turkey
Abstract
Thalamocortical projections contribute to the spatial organization and functional hierarchies of the mammalian cortex. Primary sensory cortices receive topographically segregated information from first-order thalamic nuclei, which process distinct sensory modalities. In contrast, higher-order cortical regions integrate information from multiple information channels. While such hierarchical processing and integration of information is the foundation for neural computations in the mammalian cortex, the fundamental principles of thalamocortical computations in non-mammalian vertebrates remains unexplored. The zebrafish pallium, located in the dorsal telencephalon, is regarded as the homolog of the mammalian cortex. However, it remains unclear how the zebrafish pallium receives and processes sensory information, and how the architecture and function of these processes compare to the thalamocortical circuits in other vertebrates. Using anatomical tracing, electrophysiological circuit mapping, and in vivo Ca 2+ imaging, we revealed a thalamocortical-like pathway in the zebrafish brain. We found that the preglomerular nucleus (PG) is the primary source of visual and mechano-vibrational information to the zebrafish pallium. We demonstrated that PG neurons and their pallial projections exhibit sensory-specific and topographically organized responses. In contrast, the sensory responses of pallial neurons display multiple layers of topographically organized hierarchies, ranging from simple sensory-specific responses to multimodal and coincidence-detecting nonlinear responses. Notably, we observed a progressive increase in the complexity of sensory computations, which is organized topographically along the posterior-anterior axis of the zebrafish pallium. Collectively, our results suggest that hierarchical sensory processing across topographically organized pallial regions is a conserved functional feature of the vertebrate pallium.
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BibTeX
@article{trinh2026hierarchical,
title = {{Hierarchical sensory processing in zebrafish thalamocortical-like circuits}},
author = {Anh‐Tuan Trinh and Anna Maria Ostenrath and Ignacio del Castillo and Fanchon Cachin and Mina Koç and Susanne Kraus and Bram Serneels and Koichi Kawakami and Emre Yaksi},
journal = {Science},
year = {2026},
month = jul,
doi = {10.1126/science.aec2171},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aec2171},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Hierarchical sensory processing in zebrafish thalamocortical-like circuits
AU - Anh‐Tuan Trinh
AU - Anna Maria Ostenrath
AU - Ignacio del Castillo
AU - Fanchon Cachin
AU - Mina Koç
AU - Susanne Kraus
AU - Bram Serneels
AU - Koichi Kawakami
AU - Emre Yaksi
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/07/02
JO - Science
DO - 10.1126/science.aec2171
UR - https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aec2171
AB - Thalamocortical projections contribute to the spatial organization and functional hierarchies of the mammalian cortex. Primary sensory cortices receive topographically segregated information from first-order thalamic nuclei, which process distinct sensory modalities. In contrast, higher-order cortical regions integrate information from multiple information channels. While such hierarchical processing and integration of information is the foundation for neural computations in the mammalian cortex, the fundamental principles of thalamocortical computations in non-mammalian vertebrates remains unexplored. The zebrafish pallium, located in the dorsal telencephalon, is regarded as the homolog of the mammalian cortex. However, it remains unclear how the zebrafish pallium receives and processes sensory information, and how the architecture and function of these processes compare to the thalamocortical circuits in other vertebrates. Using anatomical tracing, electrophysiological circuit mapping, and in vivo Ca 2+ imaging, we revealed a thalamocortical-like pathway in the zebrafish brain. We found that the preglomerular nucleus (PG) is the primary source of visual and mechano-vibrational information to the zebrafish pallium. We demonstrated that PG neurons and their pallial projections exhibit sensory-specific and topographically organized responses. In contrast, the sensory responses of pallial neurons display multiple layers of topographically organized hierarchies, ranging from simple sensory-specific responses to multimodal and coincidence-detecting nonlinear responses. Notably, we observed a progressive increase in the complexity of sensory computations, which is organized topographically along the posterior-anterior axis of the zebrafish pallium. Collectively, our results suggest that hierarchical sensory processing across topographically organized pallial regions is a conserved functional feature of the vertebrate pallium.
SN - 0036-8075
SN - 0193-4511
SN - 1095-9203
ER -