Discontinuities in the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus corresponding to the optic disc: A comparative study
- Creators
- Kaas, J. H.
- Guillery, R. W.
- Allman, J. M.
Abstract
A cylindrical cellular discontinuity commonly occurs in lateral geniculate layers that are innervated by the contralateral eye. Such a discontinuity has been found in a variety of mammalian species, including carnivores, primates, a rodent and a marsupial. Electrophysiological evidence obtained from some of these species shows that the discontinuity corresponds to the blind spot. It is concluded that the representation of the retina within the lateral geniculate nucleus is extremely accurate, since the retinal receptor layer and the geniculate layers have corresponding holes. Two possible mechanisms that would demand such a discontinuity are considered. One is an intralaminar mechanism in which the cells in each lamina accurately reflect the distribution of retinal receptors; the other is an interlaminar mechanism in which the representations of the homonymous hemiretinae are so accurately aligned that the optic disc must be represented by a cellular discontinuity.
Additional Information
© 1973 The Wistar Institute Press. Supported by grants 1 P01 HD 03352, 5 P01 NS 06225, 5-T01-NS-05326, and R01 NS 06662 from the U.S.P.H.S. We thank Mrs. E. Langer and Mr. T. Stewart for the photography, Mrs. D. Urban for drawing figure 12, and Mrs. J. Eckleberry, Mrs. I. Lucey, and Mrs. B. Yelk for preparing histological materials. We are grateful to Dr. I. T. Diamond for providing several marsupial phalangers.Additional details
- Eprint ID
- 104190
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20200701-103608259
- 1 P01 HD 03352
- NIH
- 5 P01 NS 06225
- NIH
- 5-T01-NS-05326
- NIH Predoctoral Fellowship
- R01 NS 06662
- NIH
- Created
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2020-07-02Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
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2021-11-16Created from EPrint's last_modified field