Color Representation Is Retinotopically Biased but Locally Intermingled in Mouse V1

• Published in: Frontiers in neural circuits Vol. 11; p. 22
• Main Authors: Aihara, Shuhei, Yoshida, Takashi, Hashimoto, Takayuki, Ohki, Kenichi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland Frontiers Research Foundation 29.03.2017; Frontiers Media S.A
• Subjects: Animals; Bias; Calcium - metabolism; Calcium imaging; Cations, Divalent - metabolism; Color Perception - physiology; Color vision; Functional morphology; Information processing; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Mice, Transgenic; Neuroimaging; Neurons; Neurons - cytology; Neurons - physiology; Neuroscience; Opsins; Optical Imaging; Photic Stimulation; Physiology; Retina; Visual cortex; Visual Cortex - cytology; Visual Cortex - physiology; United States > US; Japan; functional architecture; wide field Ca2+ imaging; mouse; two-photon imaging; color; visual cortex
• ISSN: 1662-5110; 1662-5110
• DOI: 10.3389/fncir.2017.00022

Dichromatic vision is common in many mammals. However, color processing in the primary visual cortex (V1) of dichromatic mammals is relatively unknown compared to the trichromatic primates. In this study, we investigated the functional organization of color processing in mouse V1. The mouse retina has a graded expression pattern of two opsins along its dorsoventral axis. However, it is not clear whether and how this expression pattern is reflected in the cortical representation at local (several hundred microns) and areal (V1) level. Using two-photon calcium (Ca ) imaging and wide-field Ca imaging, we revealed that V1 neurons responded to S (UV)- and M (green)-opsin isolating stimuli with slightly biased color preference depending on retinotopic position in V1. This was consistent with the distribution of retinal opsins. At the cellular level, preferences for S- and M-opsin isolating stimuli were intermingled in a local region encompassing several hundred microns. These results suggest that functional organizations of color information are locally intermingled, but slightly biased depending on the retinotopic position in mouse V1.