Serotonin regulates visual information transfer to thalamus.
A recent study published in Neuron suggests that serotonergic neurons in the brainstem gate the transfer of visual information from the eyes to the thalamus, an egg-shaped area of the brain. The researchers used a technique known as two-photon calcium imaging to track the activity of individual retinal axons in the brains of awake mice as they viewed visual images on a computer monitor. They found that serotonin can suppress calcium signals in retinal axons and the release of glutamate in the thalamus, ultimately reducing the transmission of visual signals from the eye to the thalamus.