Inhibition of the Deep and Intermediate Layers of the Superior Colliculus Disrupts Sensorimotor Gating in Monkeys

The deep and intermediate layers of the superior colliculus (DLSC) respond to visual, auditory, and tactile inputs and act as a multimodal sensory association area. In turn, activity in the DLSC can drive orienting and avoidance responses—such as saccades and head and body movements—across species, including in rats, cats, and non-human primates. As shown in rodents, DLSC also plays a role in regulating pre-pulse inhibition (PPI) of the acoustic startle response (ASR), a form of sensorimotor gating. DLSC lesions attenuate PPI and electrical stimulation of DLSC inhibits the startle response. While the circuitry mediating PPI is well-characterized in rodents, less is known about PPI regulation in primates. Two recent studies from our labs reported a species difference in the effects of pharmacological inhibition of the basolateral amygdala and substantia nigra pars reticulata (SNpr) on PPI between rats and macaques: in rats, inhibition of these structures decreased PPI, while in macaques, it increased PPI. Given that the SNpr sends direct inhibitory projections to DLSC, we next sought to determine if this species difference was similarly evident at the level of DLSC. Here, we transiently inactivated DLSC in four rhesus macaques by focal microinfusion of the GABA(A) receptor agonist muscimol. Similar to findings reported in rodents, we observed that bilateral inhibition of the DLSC in macaques significantly disrupted PPI. The impairment was specific to the PPI as the ASR itself was not affected. These results indicate that our previously reported species divergence at the level of the SNpr is not due to downstream differences at the level of the DLSC. Species differences at the level of the SNpr and basolateral amygdala emphasize the importance of studying the underlying circuitry in non-human primates, as impairment in PPI has been reported in several disorders in humans, including schizophrenia, autism, and PTSD.