Visual input to the mouse lateral posterior and posterior thalamic nuclei: photoreceptive origins and retinotopic order

The lateral posterior and posterior thalamic nuclei have been implicated in aspects of visually guided behaviour and reflex responses to light, including those dependent on melanopsin photoreception. Here we investigated the extent and basic properties of visually evoked activity across the mouse lateral posterior and posterior thalamus. We show that a subset of retinal projections to these regions derive from melanopsin‐expressing retinal ganglion cells and find many cells that exhibit melanopsin‐dependent changes in firing. We also show that subsets of cells across these regions integrate signals from both eyes in various ways and that, within the lateral posterior thalamus, visual responses are retinotopically ordered.