Coordinated orienting behavior emerges following unilateral optogenetic activation of Superior Colliculus GABAergic neurons
- 1Humboldt University, Berlin
Abstract
Orienting coordinates movements of the eyes, whiskers, nose, and other effectors, but how the superior colliculus (SC) recruits these components over time remains unclear. We combined unilateral optogenetic activation of SC GABAergic neurons with high-speed tracking of facial movements and Neuropixels recordings to examine SC-evoked orienting in head-fixed mice. Stimulation recruited movements of the whiskers, nose, eyes, and pupil. Horizontal eye and nose movements were directed contralateral to the stimulated hemisphere, whereas vertical eye movements, pupil dilation, and whisker protraction did not differ significantly between stimulation sides. Nose and whisker movements generally preceded eye movements, followed by slower pupil dilation, revealing a temporally organized response. Recordings from the SC contralateral to the stimulated hemisphere revealed heterogeneous neuronal responses comprising short-latency excitation and delayed excitation or inhibition. Short-latency excitation was similar on trials with and without evoked movements, whereas delayed excitation was greater on trials that evoked eye or nose movements. Neurons modulated during spontaneous nose movements showed corresponding optogenetically evoked responses, linking stimulation-induced activity to endogenous movement-related activity. Thus, activation of SC GABAergic neurons initiates evolving population activity that recruits a coordinated sequence of orienting movements.
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BibTeX
@misc{suyama2026coordinated,
title = {{Coordinated orienting behavior emerges following unilateral optogenetic activation of Superior Colliculus GABAergic neurons}},
author = {H. Suyama and T. Lupashina and M. Hamon and J. Sibille and K. L. Teh and K. Liebert and M. E. Larkum and R. Sachdev and J. Kremkow},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.64898/2026.10.27.761971},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.27.761971v1},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Coordinated orienting behavior emerges following unilateral optogenetic activation of Superior Colliculus GABAergic neurons
AU - H. Suyama
AU - T. Lupashina
AU - M. Hamon
AU - J. Sibille
AU - K. L. Teh
AU - K. Liebert
AU - M. E. Larkum
AU - R. Sachdev
AU - J. Kremkow
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/27
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.10.27.761971
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.27.761971v1
AB - Orienting coordinates movements of the eyes, whiskers, nose, and other effectors, but how the superior colliculus (SC) recruits these components over time remains unclear. We combined unilateral optogenetic activation of SC GABAergic neurons with high-speed tracking of facial movements and Neuropixels recordings to examine SC-evoked orienting in head-fixed mice. Stimulation recruited movements of the whiskers, nose, eyes, and pupil. Horizontal eye and nose movements were directed contralateral to the stimulated hemisphere, whereas vertical eye movements, pupil dilation, and whisker protraction did not differ significantly between stimulation sides. Nose and whisker movements generally preceded eye movements, followed by slower pupil dilation, revealing a temporally organized response. Recordings from the SC contralateral to the stimulated hemisphere revealed heterogeneous neuronal responses comprising short-latency excitation and delayed excitation or inhibition. Short-latency excitation was similar on trials with and without evoked movements, whereas delayed excitation was greater on trials that evoked eye or nose movements. Neurons modulated during spontaneous nose movements showed corresponding optogenetically evoked responses, linking stimulation-induced activity to endogenous movement-related activity. Thus, activation of SC GABAergic neurons initiates evolving population activity that recruits a coordinated sequence of orienting movements.
ER -