A Developmental Study of Retinal Afferents and Visual Responses in the Cat Pretectum

Overview

Journal Exp Brain Res

Specialty Neurology

Date 1985 Jan 1

PMID 4054277

Citations 2

Authors

A Schoppmann

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Neuronal responses in the pretectum (PT) were analyzed in 4-16 week old kittens after visual and electrical stimulation and compared with adult responses from a previous study. All three retinal fiber types projecting to the adult PT could be electrically activated in kittens from 4 weeks on. There was a dramatic reduction of response latencies to electric shocks to retinal afferents applied at the optic chiasm (OX) and optic tract (OT) in postsynaptic cells as a function of age, involving X-, Y-, and W-fibers. At four through six weeks postnatally the reduction in latency was found to be due to enhanced signal transmission at the axonal terminal region. Latency reduction continued after six weeks of life due to sharp increases in conduction velocity of the afferent fibers. Different steps in the maturation of visual response specifity were found for neurons of different functional types. Possible relationships are discussed between the development of neuronal responses of pretectal cells and the maturation of oculomotor behavior.

Citing Articles

Spatial and temporal properties of visual responses in the thalamus of the developing ferret.

Akerman C, Grubb M, Thompson I J Neurosci. 2004; 24(1):170-82.

PMID: 14715950 PMC: 6729569. DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1002-03.2004.

Functional and developmental analysis of a visual corticopretectal pathway in the cat: a neuroanatomical and electrophysiological study.

Schoppmann A Exp Brain Res. 1985; 60(2):363-74.

PMID: 4054278 DOI: 10.1007/BF00235931.

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