Polarization-Sensitive and Light-Sensitive Neurons in Two Parallel Pathways Passing Through the Anterior Optic Tubercle in the Locust Brain

Pfeiffer, Keram; Kinoshita, Michiyo; Homberg, Uwe

doi:10.1152/jn.00276.2005

Cited by 107 publications

(142 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…Both constitute the largest AOTu volume and are composed of two subunits (outer and inner lobes in locusts; MU-VL and MU-DL in honeybees). Our results suggest a spatial information content at the MU inter-tubercle output, and likewise, upper unit interneurons in locusts respond in a strongly stimulus position-dependent manner (Pfeiffer and Homberg, 2002;Pfeiffer et al, 2005;Kinoshita et al, 2007). We thus believe that this bi-lobed major AOTu compartment serves similar spatial processing functions in honeybees and locusts.…”

Section: Aotu Function In a Physiological And Behavioral Contextsupporting

confidence: 51%

“…The VLU of the honeybee AOTu shows remarkable similarity with the lower unit of the locust AOTu (Homberg et al, 2003), which processes polarized light information and conveys it via the LAL to the central body (Pfeiffer et al, 2005;Homberg 2007, 2009;Kinoshita et al, 2007). Both are positioned ventrodorsally and posterior to the more prominent AOTu unit (MU in honeybees; upper unit in locusts) and receive input from the dorsal medulla.…”

Section: Aotu Function In a Physiological And Behavioral Contextmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…The most prominent optic glomerulus is the anterior optic tubercle (AOTu). AOTu neurons involved in sky-compass, polarized light, and spectral processing have been characterized in the locust by means of intracellular recordings (Pfeiffer et al, 2005;Kinoshita et al, 2007). In honeybees, little is known about the neural architecture and function of the AOTu.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Neural Organization and Visual Processing in the Anterior Optic Tubercle of the Honeybee Brain

Mota¹,

Yamagata²,

Giurfa³

et al. 2011

J. Neurosci.

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The honeybee Apis mellifera represents a valuable model for studying the neural segregation and integration of visual information. Vision in honeybees has been extensively studied at the behavioral level and, to a lesser degree, at the physiological level using intracellular electrophysiological recordings of single neurons. However, our knowledge of visual processing in honeybees is still limited by the lack of functional studies of visual processing at the circuit level. Here we contribute to filling this gap by providing a neuroanatomical and neurophysiological characterization at the circuit level of a practically unstudied visual area of the bee brain, the anterior optic tubercle (AOTu). First, we analyzed the internal organization and neuronal connections of the AOTu. Second, we established a novel protocol for performing optophysiological recordings of visual circuit activity in the honeybee brain and studied the responses of AOTu interneurons during stimulation of distinct eye regions. Our neuroanatomical data show an intricate compartmentalization and connectivity of the AOTu, revealing a dorsoventral segregation of the visual input to the AOTu. Light stimuli presented in different parts of the visual field (dorsal, lateral, or ventral) induce distinct patterns of activation in AOTu output interneurons, retaining to some extent the dorsoventral input segregation revealed by our neuroanatomical data. In particular, activity patterns evoked by dorsal and ventral eye stimulation are clearly segregated into distinct AOTu subunits. Our results therefore suggest an involvement of the AOTu in the processing of dorsoventrally segregated visual information in the honeybee brain.

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Section: Aotu Function In a Physiological And Behavioral Contextsupporting

confidence: 51%

Section: Aotu Function In a Physiological And Behavioral Contextmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Neural Organization and Visual Processing in the Anterior Optic Tubercle of the Honeybee Brain

Mota¹,

Yamagata²,

Giurfa³

et al. 2011

J. Neurosci.

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show abstract

“…All neurons of the polarization vision system of the locust, described so far, showed robust responses to polarized light (Vitzthum et al, 2002;Pfeiffer et al, 2005;Heinze and Homberg, 2007;Kinoshita et al, 2007;Pfeiffer and Homberg, 2007). In contrast, three cell types presented here (CPU2, CL2, and likely CPU4) were polarization sensitive or polarization blind, depending on the individual preparation.…”

Section: Conditional Polarization Sensitivitymentioning

confidence: 64%

“…After reaching the lateral triangle and median olive of the LAL, polarized light information is transferred to tangential neurons innervating the CBL (Pfeiffer et al, 2005;Träger et al, 2008). At a later processing stage, columnar and tangential neurons of the PB are tuned to particular E-vector orientations depending on the column they innervate (Heinze and Homberg, 2007).…”

Section: Connecting the Cbl With The Pbmentioning

confidence: 99%

Linking the Input to the Output: New Sets of Neurons Complement the Polarization Vision Network in the Locust Central Complex

Heinze¹,

Homberg²

2009

J. Neurosci.

109

141

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Visual system of calliphorid flies: Organization of optic glomeruli and their lobula complex efferents

Strausfeld

Okamura

2006

J of Comparative Neurology

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Reconstructions of silver-stained brains revealed 27 optic glomeruli that occupy a major volume of the lateral protocerebrum. Axons from different morphological types of columnar output neurons from the lobula complex sort out to specific glomeruli. Glomeruli are partially enwrapped by glial processes and are invaded by the dendrites and terminals of local interneurons that connect different glomeruli in a manner analogous to local interneurons in the antennal lobes. Each type of columnar neuron contributes to a palisade-like ensemble that extends across the whole or a circumscribed area of the retinotopic mosaic. A second class of outputs from the lobula comprises wide-field neurons, the dendrites of which interact with planar fields or column-like patches of retinotopic inputs from the medulla. These neurons also send their axons to optic glomeruli. Dye fills demonstrate that lobula complex neurons supplying glomeruli do not generally terminate directly on descending neurons. Local interneurons and projection neurons provide integrative circuitry within and among glomeruli. As exemplified by the anterior optic tubercle, optic glomeruli can also have elaborate internal architectures. The results are discussed with respect to the identification of motion- and orientation-selective neurons at the level of the lobula and lateral protocerebrum and with respect to the evolutionary implications raised by the existence of neural arrangements serving the compound eyes, which are organized like neuropils serving segmental ganglia equipped with appendages.

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Polarization-Sensitive and Light-Sensitive Neurons in Two Parallel Pathways Passing Through the Anterior Optic Tubercle in the Locust Brain

Abstract: Pfeiffer, Keram, Michiyo Kinoshita, and Uwe Homberg. Polarization-sensitive and light-sensitive neurons in two parallel pathways passing through the anterior optic tubercle in the locust brain.

Cited by 107 publications

References 26 publications

Neural Organization and Visual Processing in the Anterior Optic Tubercle of the Honeybee Brain

Neural Organization and Visual Processing in the Anterior Optic Tubercle of the Honeybee Brain

Linking the Input to the Output: New Sets of Neurons Complement the Polarization Vision Network in the Locust Central Complex

Visual system of calliphorid flies: Organization of optic glomeruli and their lobula complex efferents

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