Learning-related neuronal activity in the ventral lateral geniculate nucleus during associative cerebellar learning

Alireza Kashef; Matthew M Campolattaro; John H Freeman

doi:10.1152/jn.00185.2013

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Learning-related neuronal activity in the ventral lateral geniculate nucleus during associative cerebellar learning

Journal article

Open access

Peer reviewed

Learning-related neuronal activity in the ventral lateral geniculate nucleus during associative cerebellar learning

Alireza Kashef, Matthew M Campolattaro and John H Freeman

Journal of neurophysiology, Vol.112(9), pp.2234-2250

11/01/2014

DOI: 10.1152/jn.00185.2013

PMCID: PMC4274918

PMID: 25122718

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Abstract

During delay eyeblink conditioning, rats learn to produce an eyelid-closure conditioned response (CR) to a conditioned stimulus (CS), such as a light, which precedes and coterminates with an unconditioned stimulus (US). Previous studies have suggested that the ventral lateral geniculate nucleus (LGNv) might play an important role in visual eyeblink conditioning by supplying visual sensory input to the pontine nuclei (PN) and also receiving feedback from the cerebellum. No prior study has investigated LGNv neuronal activity during eyeblink conditioning. The present study used multiple tetrodes to monitor single-unit activity in the rat LGNv during pre-exposure (CS only), unpaired CS/US, and paired CS-US training conditions. This behavioral-training sequence was used to investigate nonassociative- and associative-driven neuronal activity in the LGNv during training. LGNv neuronal activity habituated during unpaired training and then recovered from habituation during subsequent paired training, which may indicate that the LGNv plays a role in attention to the CS. The amplitude of LGNv neuronal activity correlated with CR production during paired but not unpaired CS/US training. Cerebellar feedback to the LGNv may play a role in modulating LGNv activity and attention to the CS during paired training. Based on the present findings, we hypothesize that the role of LGNv in visual eyeblink conditioning goes beyond simply routing visual CS information to the PN and involves modulation of attention.

Habituation, Psychophysiologic

Rats, Long-Evans

Attention

Rats

Male

Geniculate Bodies - cytology

Cerebellum - physiology

Geniculate Bodies - physiology

Association Learning

Feedback, Physiological

Animals

Neurons - physiology

Blinking

Details

Title: Subtitle: Learning-related neuronal activity in the ventral lateral geniculate nucleus during associative cerebellar learning
Creators: Alireza Kashef - Department of Psychology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa; and
Matthew M Campolattaro - Department of Psychology, Christopher Newport University, Newport News, Virginia
John H Freeman - Department of Psychology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa; and john-freeman@uiowa.edu
Resource Type: Journal article
Publication Details: Journal of neurophysiology, Vol.112(9), pp.2234-2250
DOI: 10.1152/jn.00185.2013
PMID: 25122718
PMCID: PMC4274918
NLM abbreviation: J Neurophysiol
ISSN: 0022-3077
eISSN: 1522-1598
Publisher: United States
Grant note: MH080005 / NIMH NIH HHS
Language: English
Date published: 11/01/2014
Academic Unit: Psychological and Brain Sciences; Iowa Neuroscience Institute
Record Identifier: 9984065754202771

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