Mouse dLGN Receives Functional Input from a Diverse Population of Retinal Ganglion Cells with Limited Convergence

Abstract

Mouse vision is based on the parallel output of more than 30 functional types of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs). Little is known about how representations of visual information change between retina and dorsolateral geniculate nucleus (dLGN) of the thalamus, the main relay between retina and cortex. Here, we functionally characterized responses of retrogradely labeled dLGN-projecting RGCs and dLGN neurons to the same set of visual stimuli. We found that many of the previously identified functional RGC types innervate dLGN, which maintained a high degree of functional diversity. Using a linear model to assess functional connectivity between RGC types and dLGN neurons, we found that responses of dLGN neurons could be predicted as linear combination of inputs from on average five RGC types, but only two of those had the strongest functional impact. Thus, mouse dLGN receives functional input from a diverse population of RGC types with limited convergence.