Two decades before, scientists were discussing the brain’s visual thalamus. They had some reports that showed that it had some rare characteristics which made it special among other areas of the brain surrounding it. Other old scientists’ research showed that the area called by the ventral lateral geniculate nucleus has a connection to neural circuits which roleplay in controlling circadian rhythm and mood. Scientists didn’t know a lot about this region’s characteristics and cell structure until now.

This was made possible by Ubadah Sabbagh, a graduate student, unknowingly. He put a cold glass slide on the microscope along with adjusting some settings and looked closely after zooming on the brain’s thalamus. To his amazement, he saw two adjoining stripes of glowing marks, where dots in each mark represented a cell body.

Getty Images/Moment/Artur Debat

Researchers added some fluorescent genes to light molecules. They took them from other organic particles and when their RNAs matched, molecules lit up. They then tried envisioning those cells which produced definite genetic molecules from vLGN so that they can see different colored glow clearly under the microscope. Scientists weren’t clear as this showed some definite layers in scans. Ubadah then programmed software that scanned images of vLGN and measured probe signals, substantiating the findings and conveying definite layers. To check the information route for these cells, scientists used non-lethal tracing equipment that traced the virus. It determined that which neurons in the eye’s retina lining had connections with vLGN neurons. The virus disclosed that vLGN’s cells in the main layers received direct visual signals from retinal neurons in the eye. They also got help from research partners from the University of Louisiana who checked the communication traits. This helped clarify the communication between neurons.

Fox’s research members have initiated the work of single-cell RNA sequencing where they will be examining gene behavior in discrete cells. Fox believes that when they get info about certain cell types, they can track different circuits and start exploring how various brain areas communicate with neurons from vLGN. Ubadah also said that there is a lot of diversity in vLGN’s functionality, and now they can research how definite cell types come up with functions with more accuracy. Ubadah Sabbagh on his research work was also awarded a six-year award of $390000 for supporting his research. This research indeed opened gates for further research about brain development and comparative biology. By doing successful researches in exposing vLGN structures for mice, they can move to different species with complex vLGN structures in the future.

The study, “Diverse GABAergic neurons organize into subtype‐specific sublaminae in the ventral lateral geniculate nucleus”, was authored by Ubadah Sabbagh, Gubbi Govindaiah, Rachana D. Somaiya, Ryan V. Ha, Jessica C. Wei, William Guido, and Michael A. Fox.