Coordinated orienting behavior emerges following unilateral optogenetic activation of Superior Colliculus GABAergic neurons

Unilateral optogenetic activation of superior colliculus GABAergic neurons in head-fixed mice recruits whisker, nose, eye, and pupil movements in a temporally organized sequence.

• Why it matters: It remains unclear how the superior colliculus coordinates multiple effectors over time during orienting, and how evoked activity relates to endogenous movement signals.
• What they did: The authors used unilateral optogenetic stimulation of SC GABAergic neurons with high-speed facial tracking and Neuropixels recordings to quantify movement timing and SC neuronal responses.
• The result: Horizontal eye and nose movements were contralateral, while vertical eye movements, pupil dilation, and whisker protraction were not significantly side-dependent; nose and whiskers preceded eyes, and SC contralateral neurons showed heterogeneous excitation/inhibition linked to evoked and spontaneous nose-related activity.

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