Data for: Ongoing and visually evoked activity in the zebrafish optic tectum and adjacent brain structures

The ongoing activity of neuronal populations represents an internal brain state that influences how sensory information is processed to control behaviour. Conversely, external sensory inputs perturb network dynamics, resulting in lasting effects that persist beyond the duration of the stimulus. However, the relationship between these dynamics and circuit architecture and their impact on sensory processing, cognition and behaviour are poorly understood. By combining cellular-resolution calcium imaging with mechanistic network modelling, we aimed to infer the spatial and temporal network interactions in the zebrafish optic tectum that shape its ongoing activity and state-dependent responses to visual input. We showed that a simple recurrent network architecture, wherein tectal dynamics are dominated by fast, short range, excitation countered by long-lasting, activity-dependent suppression, was sufficient to explain multiple facets of population activity including intermittent bursting, tr..., Imaging data was acquired using a custom-built digitally scanned light-sheet microscope. The excitation path included a 488 nm laser source (OBIS, Coherent, Santa Clara, California), a pair of galvanometer scan mirrors (Cambridge Technology, Bedford, Massachusetts) and objective (Plan 4X, 4x/0.1 NA, Olympus, Tokyo, Japan). A water-immersion detection objective (XLUMPlLFLN, 20x/1.0 NA, Olympus), a tube lens (f=200 mm), two relay lenses (f=100 mm) in a 4f configuration, and sCMOS camera (Orca Flash 4.0, Hamamatsu, Hamamatsu, Japan) were used in the orthogonal detection path. For remote focusing (Fahrbach et al., 2013), an electrically tunable lens (ETL, EL-16-40-TC-VIS-20D, Optotune, Dietikon, Switzerland) was installed between the relay lenses, conjugate to the back focal plane of the objective. Volumes (375 x 410 x 75 μm) comprising 19 imaging planes spaced 4 μm apart, were acquired at 5 volumes/s. Each plane received laser excitation for 1 ms (duty cycle 9%) resulting in average laser ...,