Population-scale organization of cerebellar granule neuron signaling during a visuomotor behavior

By Sherika J. G. Sylvester, Melanie M Lee, A. Ramirez, Sukbin Lim, Mark S. Goldman, Emre R. F. Aksay. 2017

15 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Granule cells at the input layer of the cerebellum comprise over half the neurons in the human brain and are thought to be critical for learning. However, little is known about granule neuron signaling at the population scale during behavior. We used calcium imaging in awake zebrafish during optokinetic behavior to record transgenically identified granule neurons throughout a cerebellar population. A significant fraction of the population was responsive at any given time. In contrast to core precerebellar populations, granule neuron responses were relatively heterogeneous, with variation in the degree of rectification and the balance of positive versus negative changes in activity. Functional correlations were strongest for nearby cells, with weak spatial gradients in the degree of rectification and the average sign of response. These data open a new window upon cerebellar function and suggest granule layer signals represent elementary building blocks under-represented in core sensorimotor pathways, thereby enabling the construction of novel patterns of activity for learning.

Subfields: Neurology, Ophthalmology, Sensory Systems

Citations in the corpus

• Re-evaluating circuit mechanisms underlying pattern separation (2019, neutral): “Using this approach (or a related approach using a synthetic calcium indicator), several recent studies have reported that granule cell population activity is far denser than had previously been believed, with more than two thirds of imaged granule cells being active concurrently in some cases (Figu”