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Connections of contralaterally projecting isthmotectal axons and GABA-immunoreactive neurons in Xenopus tectum: An ultrastructural study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 August 2005

KRYSTYNA KIELAN RYBICKA  and
SUSAN B. UDIN
KRYSTYNA KIELAN RYBICKA
Affiliation:
Department of Physiology and Biophysics, State University of New York, Buffalo
SUSAN B. UDIN
Affiliation:
Department of Physiology and Biophysics and Neuroscience Program, State University of New York, Buffalo
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Abstract

To investigate the circuitry that mediates binocular interactions in the tectum of Xenopus frogs, we have begun to identify the tectal cells that receive ipsilateral eye input relayed via the nucleus isthmi. Isthmotectal axons were labeled with horseradish peroxidase, and thin sections were labeled by postembedding immunogold reaction with antibodies to γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA). Ultrastructural examination reveals that many isthmotectal axons terminate on GABA-immunoreactive dendrites. Other isthmotectal axons contact postsynaptic structures that are unlabeled but have an appearance consistent with previously described GABA-poor zones of GABA-immunoreactive dendrites. We also examined the unlabeled inputs to the dendrites that were postsynaptic to filled isthmotectal axons. The most common nonisthmic inputs to those dendrites were GABA-immunoreactive processes with symmetric morphology. Surprisingly, we found only one input with the retinotectal characteristics of densely packed round, clear vesicles and minimal GABA immunoreactivity. These results indicate that isthmotectal axons synapse onto inhibitory interneurons, that retinotectal and isthmotectal axons do not synapse close to each other on the same dendrites, and that inhibitory connections are the closest neighbors to isthmotectal synapses.

Keywords

BinocularIsthmiVisionInhibitionTectum
Type
Research Article
Information
Visual Neuroscience , Volume 22 , Issue 3 , May 2005 , pp. 305 - 315
Copyright
2005 Cambridge University Press

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