Direct Comparison of Epifluorescence and Immunostaining for Assessing Viral Mediated Gene Expression in the Primate Brain.

Viral vector technologies are commonly used in neuroscience research to understand and manipulate neural circuits, but successful applications of these technologies in non-human primate models have been inconsistent. An essential component to improve these technologies is an impartial and accurate assessment of the effectiveness of different viral constructs in the primate brain. We tested a diverse array of viral vectors delivered to the brain and extraocular muscles of macaques and compared three methods for histological assessment of viral-mediated fluorescent transgene expression: epifluorescence (Epi), immunofluorescence (IF), and immunohistochemistry (IHC).

Causal role for the primate superior colliculus in the computation of evidence for perceptual decisions.

Trained monkeys performed a two-choice perceptual decision-making task in which they reported the perceived orientation of a dynamic Glass pattern, before and after unilateral, reversible, inactivation of a brainstem area-the superior colliculus (SC)-involved in preparing eye movements. We found that unilateral SC inactivation produced significant decision biases and changes in reaction times consistent with a causal role for the primate SC in perceptual decision-making. Fitting signal detection theory and sequential sampling models to the data showed that SC inactivation produced a decrease in the relative evidence for contralateral decisions, as if adding a constant offset to a time-varying evidence signal for the ipsilateral choice.