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The segregation of ON- and OFF-center responses in the lateral geniculate nucleus of normal and monocularly enucleated ferrets

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 June 2009

James Morgan
Affiliation:
University Laboratory of Physiology, Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3PT, UK
Ian D. Thompson
Affiliation:
University Laboratory of Physiology, Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3PT, UK

Abstract

We have investigated the distribution of ON- and OFF-center responses in the lateral geniculate nucleus of ferrets with normal and abnormal retinal projections. Electrophysiological recordings in normal pigmented animals confirm previous studies on mustelids showing that ON-center responses are found in the anterior, inner parts of laminae A and AI and OFF-center responses in posterior, outer leaflets. In albino animals, lamina A displays normal patterns of ON/OFF segregation but in lamina AI, which receives an abnormal crossed retinal projection, no consistent patterns of segregation are found. Following monocular enucleation on the day of birth, the uncrossed projection in pigmented ferrets remains expanded across the LGN. Anatomically and physiologically, this projection is segregated into two leaflets: an anterior, inner ON-center leaflet and a posterior outer OFF-center leaflet. We conclude that the persistence of ON/OFF segregation, independent of geniculate location, suggests that self-sorting of retinal input is an important factor in generating the segregation.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1993

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