Effects of unilateral visual deprivation on the developing avian brain

Development of the laminated pattern of the chick tectum opticum

Several ontogenetic studies have been devoted to the structural organization of the developing tectum opticum. They disagree in many respects because they are based on histological preparations performed with differently oriented planes of section. According to our results the differences found in the literature mainly result from the fact that the developmental gradient axis undergoes remarkable positional changes with respect to both optic lobe and neural tube longitudinal anatomical axes during the early stages of development. The present work is a dynamic description of the tectum opticum lamination based on sections coinciding with the developmental gradient. Since this latter displays a curved disposition, several slightly modified planes of section had to be used to obtain a complete picture along the developmental gradient. The development of the tectal architecture proceeds from a relatively simple organization through increasingly complex multilaminated patterns. A dynamic interpretation of successive images of a particular region observed at increasing developmental stages or of images observed at a particular stage along the entire length of the developmental gradient axis, allows us to propose that embryonic laminae are only transient spatial arrangements of cells actively migrating from the sites where they were generated to those where they will definitively reside. These considerations led us to define a nomenclature that establishes clear correlations between the early transient organizations and the definitive one of the fully developed optic tectum. This type of nomenclature could be usefully applied to describe dynamically the development of structures displaying multilaminated patterns such as other cortical zones of the central nervous system.

Influence of visual deprivation on the visual and oculomotor system: acetylcholinesterase activity in oculomotor neurons

The effects of visual deprivation (dark-rearing) on neurons in both the visual and oculomotor systems of black mice were studied using morphologic and histochemical techniques. In the neurons of the dorsal nucleus of the lateral geniculate body, the cytoplasm of dark-reared mice was less developed and the cytoplasm/nucleus ratio was significantly smaller in the dark-reared mice than in the controls. In contrast, large motoneurons in the oculomotor nucleus did not show any ultrastructural changes and the cytoplasm/nucleus ratio was normal. However, in large motoneurons of dark-reared mice, acetylcholinesterase (AChE)-positive areas were scattered in the cytoplasm, and the ratio of the AChE-positive areas to the cytoplasm area was significantly smaller than that in the controls.

Intravitreal kainic acid severely reduces the size of the developing optic tectum in newly hatched chickens

Following a single intravitreal injection of 200 nmol of kainic acid (KA) to newly hatched chickens, there are acute and long-term effects on retinal ganglion cells in the chicken retina. Thirty min after injection, most ganglion cells showed cytoplasmic vacuolization. However, 14 days later, most ganglion cell soma appeared normal. Almost 60% of the cells in the ganglion cell layer (GCL) were lost, suggesting that displaced amacrine cells and not more than 40% of the ganglion cells had been eliminated. Following intravitreal injection of wheat germ agglutinin conjugated to horseradish peroxidase 14 days after the KA lesion, the amount of HRP reaction product was reduced in all retinorecipient layers, especially layers IIc and IId, of the tectum contralateral to the KA-treated eye. Fourteen days after the injection of kainic acid, during which the control tecta grow appreciably, all the superficial layers of the tectum contralateral to the kainic acid-lesioned eye, especially layers IIc and IId, were smaller than in controls, and did not differ in size from those seen in tecta contralateral to cut optic nerves. It is not clear whether this is a result of a developmental failure, or a shrinkage, or a combination of these factors. These results suggest that subtypes of ganglion cells may have a disproportionate influence in the maintenance of the cytoarchitectural integrity in the optic tectum. Alternatively the removal of the OFF-bipolar cells and amacrine cells presynaptic to ganglion cells may decrease their metabolism, and restrict the supply of trophic influences to the developing tectal cells.

Effects of early monocular deprivation on choline acetyltransferase and glutamic acid decarboxylase in pigeon visual Wulst

Choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) and glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD) activities were measured in various visual structures of the pigeon brain after long-term monocular deprivation followed by short-term binocular presence or absence of light stimulation. The short-term phase (45 min) was coupled with a 2-deoxyglucose experiment in order to select the adequate brain samples. After mononuclear deprivation during the first 6-11 months, ChAT activity was higher by 40-60% in the dorsolateral visual Wulst contralateral to the deprived eye, as compared to the other side. In the same structure, animals, either monocularly deprived or undeprived and exposed binocularly to environmental light for 45 min, had higher ChAT activities on both sides than those maintained in the dark. Mononuclear deprivation performed in adult animals did not affect the ChAT activity in visual Wulst. GAD activity was bilaterally decreased in the visual Wulst after early monocular deprivation. These results suggest that early monocular deprivation has an effect on biochemical systems involved in synaptic transmission at selected relays of the visual pathways.

Activity of choline acetyltransferase and acetylcholinesterase in the goldfish optic tectum after disconnection

Activities of choline acetyltransferase (CAT) and acetylcholinesterase (AChE) were investigated in the goldfish optic tectum after disconnection of the optic afferents. Permanent disconnection was achieved by eye removal, and optic nerve crush produced a temporary disconnection until regeneration. There was a rapid loss in total activity per tectum for both enzymes under the two disconnection conditions. At longer intervals after optic nerve crush the levels of total activity for both enzymes returned toward control levels, as regeneration of the nerve proceeded. Total activity for both enzymes remained depressed after eye removal, however. Variable results were obtained in specific activity data, expressed per unit protein, although there was a 10% loss in specific activity of CAT at early intervals after eye removal. The data are interpreted as consistent with the possibility that at least a fraction of the axons in the retinotectal pathway of goldfish are cholinergic, and parallel our previous observations showing similar rapid losses of nicotinic-cholinergic receptor activity in this system.

Effects of prevention of afferentation of the development of the chick optic lobe

The effects of unilateral extirpation of the right optic cup of the three-day incubated chick embryo upon the rate of synthesis and the stability of DNA in the non-innervated optic lobe, have been studied. This surgical procedure prevents innervation of the optic lobe contralateral to the removed eye, while the other optic lobe is normally innervated by retinal ganglion cells of the remaining eye. At the 20th day of incubation, the DNA content of the non-innervated lobe was below that of the paired lobe receiving normal innervation. This deficiency of cell number was caused by two events; death of an excess number of neurons formed early in embryogenesis and a reduced rate of glial proliferation in the later stages of incubation.

Putative neurotransmitters of the avian visual pathway

The ability of homogenates of the chick optic lobe to accumulate a series of possible neurotransmitters has been studied. High affinity uptake of several possible neurotransmitters was examined in optic lobes of 21-day-old embryos that had a single eye removed on the third day of incubation and in 23-day-old chicks that had an eye removed at hatch. Embryonic enucleation resulted in severe reduction of development of the ability of the contralateral optic lobe to take up tritiated GABA, dopamine, choline, serotonin and glutamate from solutions around 10(-8)M. Unilateral eye removal of new-hatched chicks caused failure of the denervated optic lobe to grow, but only the uptake capacity for glutamate was significantly recuced. This deficit was apparent as early as 4 days after enucleation. The transport of other compounds was unimpaired. The uptake of glutamate by homogenates of the optic tract was 43% of that or the optic lobe. This was a much greater fraction than the corresponding value for other postulated neurotransmitters. These data suggest that glutamate may be the primary neurotransmitter of the fibers of the optic tract originating in the retinal ganglion cells.

Rapid changes in cerebral blood flow and initial visual experience in the developing chick

A single eye of young chicks was sewed shut for various times. Regions contralateral to and primarily or secondarily innervated by the sutured eye had a reduced rate of cerebral blood flow in comparison to the corresponding ipsilateral regions. However, upon reopening the sutured eye after 2 days, these contralateral regions (optic lobes and cerebral hemispheres) exhibited a rapid increase in cerebral blood flow to a level significantly above that in control ipsilateral areas. The duration of this effect was considerably prolonged in chicks that were monocularly sutured immediately after hatching without prior exposure to light. Chicks that had 1 week of normal vision before monocular suture did not show this overcompensatory effect. If the period of monocular suture was extended to 7 days before restoration of vision to the occluded eye, the overcompensatory vascular effect was delayed. The maximal effect was apparent only upon the 1st exposure of an eye to major visual input. A possible relation exists between this rapid increase in regional blood flow and the period when visual imprinting could normally be expected to be maximal.