# Visual signaling from retina to superior colliculus

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES · 2024 · $503,746

## Abstract

Project Summary
A major target of retinal output is the superior colliculus (SC). In fact, more retinal ganglion cell (RGC) types may
project to the SC than any other retinal target including the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN). Understanding
retinal input to SC is important because SC plays a major role in a range of attentional and decision-making
processes in both rodents and primates – two major model systems used in biomedical research supported by
the National Institutes of Health. However, the functional diversity of retinal input to SC, and ultimately how it
impacts SC signaling, remains poorly understood in mammals. This gap is particularly pronounced in primates.
The overarching goal of this proposal is to determine the diversity of cell types and the visual signals they transmit
from the retina to SC in rats and rhesus monkeys. The rationale for this proposal is that to understand the role
of SC in visually guided behaviors, we must determine how retinal signals converge and are processed in SC.
The first step toward achieving this goal is to determine which RGC types project to SC and what visual signals
they carry. Performing these experiments in both rodents and macaques is critical not just for understanding
which specific visual pathways are conserved (or diverge) from rodent to the primate brain, but also what
evolutionary advantages such specializations endow to each species. In Aim 1 of this proposal, we will use and
optimize viral methods for retrogradely infecting RGCs that project directly to SC in rats. We will determine the
morphological diversity of these RGCs. We will also determine their receptive fields and other visual response
properties, ex vivo, using large-scale multi-electrode arrays. The outcome will be a complete catalog of the
morphological and functional types of RGCs that project to SC in the rat brain. In Aim 2, we will use the most
effective viral approaches from Aim 1 to dissect the diversity of RGC types that project to SC in monkeys. As
with rats, we will determine the morphological diversity of these RGCs in macaques and determine their receptive
fields and other visual response properties using large-scale, high throughput electrophysiology. In Aim 3, we
will determine the overlap of RGC projections to SC and LGN, separately for rats and primates. Retrograde
viruses injected into SC and LGN will carry genes for different fluorescent proteins that will allow us to determine
the types and functions of RGCs that project to one versus both brain areas. The overall outcome of this project
will be a functional and morphological catalog of RGCs that project to SC in rats and primates, allowing for
detailed cross-species comparison of this key visual circuit. This comparison is important given how much
research is dedicated to the rodent visual system with the ultimate aim of understanding the human visual
system. The data will be critical for designing next-stage studies that will measure and manipulate the...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10834023
- **Project number:** 5R01EY034004-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES
- **Principal Investigator:** Gregory Darin Field
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $503,746
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2023-05-01 → 2028-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10834023

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10834023, Visual signaling from retina to superior colliculus (5R01EY034004-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-28 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10834023. Licensed CC0.

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