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The optic tract in embryonic hamsters: Fasciculation, defasciculation, and other rearrangements of retinal axons

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 June 2009

Sonal Jhaveri ,
Reha S. Erzurumlu  and
Gerald E. Schneider
Sonal Jhaveri
Affiliation:
Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge
Reha S. Erzurumlu
Affiliation:
Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge
Gerald E. Schneider
Affiliation:
Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge
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Abstract

The early development of the optic tract in hamsters was studied by labeling retinal axons with Dil applied to the eye, and then examining the labeled axons in flatmount preparations of the rostral brain stem. This technique permits a panoramic view of the entire retinal projection, from the chiasm to the caudal end of the superior colliculus. In the Ell embryo, retinal axons have reached the chiasm. They defasciculate as they emerge from the nerve, prior to reaching the ventral midline of the diencephalon, then converge again as they pass over to the opposite side. At the midline, many axonal trajectories crisscross, implying some shuffling of relative positions. Retinal axons are tightly bundled within the optic tract. Upon reaching the ventral border of the lateral geniculate body (LGB), they splay out over the nucleus, revealing a wavefront of pioneer axons individually distributed across the rostro-caudal extent of the LGB. Later-emerging retinal axons course over the surface of the thalamus in waves; subsequent waves of axons interdigitate between the lead fibers without fasciculating along them. Past the LGB, the axons undergo a second change in relative positions as the ribbon of fibers swerves caudally, prior to entering the superior colliculus. Retinal axons are tipped with growth cones of varying morphologies. No strong correlation is evident between the Structural complexity of the growth cone and its position within the tract. In the majority of cases, ipsilaterally and contralaterally directed axons follow a similar developmental course along the optic tract, without any indication of a temporal lag in the ipsilateral projection as claimed in earlier reports. Understanding the changes in spatial distribution of embryonic retinal axons as they navigate along the optic tract provides a further step towards elucidating how point-to-point projections form in developing sensory systems.

Keywords

ChiasmGrowth conesPioneer axonsLateral geniculate bodySuperior colliculusDil
Type
Research Articles
Information
Visual Neuroscience , Volume 13 , Issue 2 , March 1996 , pp. 359 - 374
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1996

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