bioRxiv Science⌕ Search
Home/Archive/bioRxiv

bioRxiv · 10.1101/2020.02.24.963785

Projection of orthogonal tiling from the retina to the visual cortex

Jang, J.·Song, M.·Paik, S.-B.
View original source ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

In higher mammals, the primary visual cortex (V1) is organized into diverse tuning maps of visual features such as orientation, spatial frequency and ocular dominance. The topography of these maps is observed to intersect orthogonally, implying that a developmental principle for efficient tiling of sensory modules may exist. However, it remains unclear how such a systematic relationship among cortical tuning maps could develop. Here, we show that the orthogonal organization of tuning modules already exist in retinal ganglion cell (RGC) mosaics, and that this provides a blueprint of the orthogonal organization in V1. Firstly, from the analysis of multi-electrode recording data in V1, we found that the ON-OFF subregion distance of receptive fields varies periodically across the cortical surface, strongly correlated to ocular dominance and spatial frequency in the area. Further, the ON-OFF alignment angle, that is orthogonal to the ON-OFF distance, appears to correlate with orientation tuning. These suggest that the orthogonal organization in V1 may originate from the spatial organization of the ON-OFF receptive fields in the bottom-up projections, and this scenario was tested from analysis of the RGC mosaics data in monkeys and cats. We found that the ON-OFF RGC distance and ON-OFF angle of neighbouring RGCs are organized into a topographic tiling across mosaics, analogous to the orthogonal intersection of cortical tuning maps. These findings suggest that the regularly structured ON-OFF patterns mirrored from a retina may initiate efficient tiling of functional domains in V1. HighlightsO_LIOrthogonal organization of visual tuning maps are observed in both V1 and the retina C_LIO_LICortical tuning maps are correlated with the profile of ON-OFF feedforward projections C_LIO_LIThe profile of ON-OFF receptive fields varies periodically across the V1 surface C_LIO_LIRegularly structured RGC patterns initiate the orthogonal tiling of sensory modules in V1 C_LI

Source connections

Explore related subjects

neurosciencePreprint

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeXRIS

Jang, J., Song, M., Paik, S.-B.. 2020-02-25. Projection of orthogonal tiling from the retina to the visual cortex. https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.02.24.963785

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related preprints

bioRxiv2026

The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Cell Types in Describing Neuronal Physiological Features

Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) captures detailed gene expression profiles at scale, while patch-clamp recordings measure intrinsic neuronal electrophysiological properties. Modeling the relations between these two modalities remains a challenge. Here, we compare how well electrophysiological features can be predicted by traditional transcriptomic cell type classification, representations derived from a foundational model (scGPT) pretrained on large-scale scRNA-seq datasets, ion channel-coding genes, and highly variable genes. Using paired transcriptomic and electrophysiological patch-sequencing data from 495 human neurons from neurosurgical tissue, we find that cluster-level cell type representations consistently outperform highly variable gene selection, ion channel gene selection, and context-enriched scGPT embeddings. Notably, performance varies across model architectures and initializations, and the best results are obtained by combining the outputs of separate cell type and scGPT-based models. Together, these findings suggest that traditional discrete cellular classification is highly effective in predicting physiological features. For maximum performance it can be complemented by pretrained transformer models.

neuroscience↗
bioRxiv2026

A nonlinear inhibition pathway underlying cortical responses to tuned holographic optogenetic perturbations

Optogenetics enables causal manipulation of cortical activity. Perturbation responses can be counterintuitive due to network interactions, making theory essential for predicting them. Existing approaches often rely on linear approximations, which fail for many biologically relevant perturbations. Here we develop a nonlinear theory of responses to holographic perturbations in cell-type-specific recurrent networks with structured connectivity. We fit a nonlinear model to mouse V1 data, which shows cotuned-ensemble suppression: perturbing spatially clustered neurons with similar preferred orientations yields markedly stronger short-range suppression than perturbing untuned ensembles. We show that cotuned-ensemble suppression arises from a feature-tuned, nonlinear inhibition pathway implicating somatostatin-positive (SST) interneurons. The theory predicts that cotuned ensembles suppress parvalbumin-positive (PV) neurons but facilitate SST neurons, and links the degree of cotuned-ensemble suppression or facilitation to the variance of the SST response. This framework identifies mechanisms by which nonlinear inhibition sculpts cortical dynamics and establishes a predictive basis for targeted optogenetic interventions.

neuroscience↗
bioRxiv2026

Proteomic signatures of APOE ε4 across human tissues and cell types in Alzheimers disease

The apolipoprotein E {varepsilon}4 (APOE {varepsilon}4) allele is the strongest genetic risk factor for late-onset Alzheimers disease (AD). However, the underlying molecular mechanisms remain unclear. This study included 1691 participants from the Religious Orders Study and Rush Memory and Aging Project (ROSMAP), 1226 participants from the Accelerating Medicines Partnership - Alzheimers Disease (AMP-AD) Diverse Cohorts Study, and 735 participants from the Alzheimers Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI). To characterise APOE {varepsilon}4 molecular effects, we analysed proteomic data from plasma, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), and induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived astrocytes and neurons, as well as transcriptomic and proteomic data from multiple brain regions. The association of APOE {varepsilon}4 with AD neuropathology was also examined. APOE {varepsilon}4 carriers shared a plasma proteomic signature enriched for immune processes, irrespective of AD diagnosis. A machine learning classifier trained on this signature discriminated APOE {varepsilon}4 carriers from non-carriers in an independent cohort using CSF proteomics. APOE {varepsilon}4 carriage was associated with higher Braak stages and Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimers Disease (CERAD) score. However, only limited APOE {varepsilon}4-associated transcriptomic and proteomic changes were observed in bulk brain tissue, with poor cross-layer concordance. Proteomic analyses of iPSC-derived astrocytes and neurons further revealed cell-type-specific APOE {varepsilon}4-associated changes. APOE {varepsilon}4 is associated with a consistent proteomic signature across plasma and CSF. Its molecular effects in the brain differ across cell types, brain regions and molecular layers. These findings support the need for cell-type-resolved multi-omic studies to elucidate how APOE {varepsilon}4 confers AD risk.

neuroscience↗