Anomalous ipsilateral retinotectal projections in Syrian hamsters with early lesions: topography and functional capacity. 1979

B L Finlay, and K G Wilson, and G E Schneider

Retinotectal topography, response properties of neurons in superior colliculus, and visual orienting behavior were studied in hamsters whose superior colliculi were innervated by one or the other of two types of anomalous ipsilateral projections. For the first type, an abnormally large uncrossed projection was created by monocular enucleation on the day of birth. This projection extended over the superficial part of the rostral half of the colliculus. The upper visual field was represented medially, and the lower visual field laterally, which corresponds to a normal projection. The rostrocaudal axis was disordered, but showed a slight tendency for nasal visual field to be represented rostrally and temporal field caudally; this tendency corresponds to an inversion of the normal ipsilateral projection, fitting instead the pattern of a contralateral projection. For the second type of anomalous ipsilateral projection, an abnormal intertectal decussation of optic tract fibers was created by neonatal ablation of the superficial layers of one superior colliculus and removal of the ipsilateral eye (Schneider, '73). Retinotectal topography observed in this recrossing projection was predominantly mirror-symmetric to the normal contralateral projection; however, some distortions in retinotopic order were observed, including misplaced fields and local inversions of the mirror-symmetric topography, and distortions of local magnification factor. Response properties of single units found medially in the left colliculus were similar to those found in normal colliculus. Units found more laterally were underresponsive, showing response decrements with repeated stimulation which is abnormal for units in the superficial gray, and many had abnormally large receptive fields. This physiological pattern was reflected in the pattern of errors made in visual orienting to small targets. It was concluded that polarity cues exist in the tectum sufficient to order the terminals of the retinotectal projection independent of the direction of fiber arrival or order in the optic tract as it enters the tectum. In addition, the functional competence of the abnormal recrossing retinotectal projection has been demonstrated by both electrophysiological and behavioral methods.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D008297 Male Males
D009949 Orientation Awareness of oneself in relation to time, place and person. Cognitive Orientation,Mental Orientation,Psychological Orientation,Cognitive Orientations,Mental Orientations,Orientation, Cognitive,Orientation, Mental,Orientation, Psychological,Orientations,Orientations, Cognitive,Orientations, Mental,Orientations, Psychological,Psychological Orientations
D012018 Reflex An involuntary movement or exercise of function in a part, excited in response to a stimulus applied to the periphery and transmitted to the brain or spinal cord.
D012160 Retina The ten-layered nervous tissue membrane of the eye. It is continuous with the OPTIC NERVE and receives images of external objects and transmits visual impulses to the brain. Its outer surface is in contact with the CHOROID and the inner surface with the VITREOUS BODY. The outer-most layer is pigmented, whereas the inner nine layers are transparent. Ora Serrata
D001931 Brain Mapping Imaging techniques used to colocalize sites of brain functions or physiological activity with brain structures. Brain Electrical Activity Mapping,Functional Cerebral Localization,Topographic Brain Mapping,Brain Mapping, Topographic,Functional Cerebral Localizations,Mapping, Brain,Mapping, Topographic Brain
D003463 Cues Signals for an action; that specific portion of a perceptual field or pattern of stimuli to which a subject has learned to respond. Cue
D004594 Electrophysiology The study of the generation and behavior of electrical charges in living organisms particularly the nervous system and the effects of electricity on living organisms.
D005260 Female Females
D006224 Cricetinae A subfamily in the family MURIDAE, comprising the hamsters. Four of the more common genera are Cricetus, CRICETULUS; MESOCRICETUS; and PHODOPUS. Cricetus,Hamsters,Hamster
D000818 Animals Unicellular or multicellular, heterotrophic organisms, that have sensation and the power of voluntary movement. Under the older five kingdom paradigm, Animalia was one of the kingdoms. Under the modern three domain model, Animalia represents one of the many groups in the domain EUKARYOTA. Animal,Metazoa,Animalia

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