Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-fscjk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T11:49:28.419Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Superimposed maps of the monocular visual fields in the caudolateral optic tectum in the frog, Rana pipiens

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 April 2005

DANIEL E. WINKOWSKI  and
EDWARD R. GRUBERG
DANIEL E. WINKOWSKI
Affiliation:
Biology Department, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA Current Address: Department of Neurobiology, Stanford University, Fairchild Science Building, 299 Campus Drive West D255, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
EDWARD R. GRUBERG
Affiliation:
Biology Department, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The superficial layers of the frog optic tectum receive a projection from the contralateral eye that forms a point-to-point map of the visual field. The monocular part of the visual field of the contralateral eye is represented in the caudolateral region of the tectum while the binocular part of the visual field is represented in the rostromedial tectum. Within the representation of the binocular field (rostromedial tectum), the maps of visual space from each eye are aligned. The tectal representation of the binocular visual field of the ipsilateral eye is mediated through a crossed projection from the midbrain nucleus isthmi. This isthmotectal projection also terminates in the caudolateral region of the optic tectum, yet there has been no indication that it forms a functional connection. By extracellular recording in intermediate layer 7 of the caudolateral tectum, we have discovered electrical activity driven by visual stimulation in the monocular visual field of the ipsilateral eye. The units driven from the ipsilateral eye burst upon initial presentation of the stimulus. At individual layer 7 recording sites in the caudolateral tectum, the multiunit receptive field evoked from the ipsilateral eye is located at the mirror image spatial location to the multiunit receptive field driven by the contralateral eye. Thus, as revealed electrophysiologically, there are superimposed topographic maps of the monocular visual fields in the caudolateral tectum. The ipsilateral eye monocular visual field representation can be abolished by electrolytic ablation of contralateral nucleus isthmi.

Keywords

Optic tectumLayer 7Topographic mapMirror image
Type
Research Article
Information
Visual Neuroscience , Volume 22 , Issue 1 , January 2005 , pp. 101 - 109
Copyright
© 2005 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Bishop, G.H. & O'Leary, J.L. (1942). The polarity of potentials recorded from the superior colliculus. Journal of Cellular and Comparative Physiology 19, 289–300.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dowben, R.M. & Rose, J.E. (1953). A metal-filled microelectrode. Science 118, 22–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dudkin, E.A. & Gruberg, E.R. (1999). Relative number of cells projecting from the contralateral and ipsilateral nucleus isthmi to loci in the optic tectum is dependent on visuotopic location: Horseradish peroxidase study in the leopard frog. Journal of Comparative Neurology 414, 212–216.3.0.CO;2-#>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Finch, D.J. & Collett, T.S. (1983). Small-field binocular neurons in the superficial layers of the frog optic tectum. Proceedings of the Royal Society B (London) 217, 491–497.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fite, K.V. (1973). The visual fields of the frog and toad: A comparative study. Behavioral Biology 9, 707–718.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gaillard, F. & Galand, G. (1981). Mapping studies of the tectal representation of the frog binocular visual field. Experimental Brain Research 44, 187–194.Google Scholar
Gaze, R.M. (1958). The representation of the retina on the optic lobe of the frog. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Physiology 43, 209–214.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gaze, R.M. & Jacobson, M. (1962). The projection of the binocular visual field on the optic tecta of the frog. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Physiology 47, 273–280.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Glasser, S. & Ingle, D. (1978). The nucleus isthmus as a relay station in the ipsilateral visual projection to the frog's optic tectum. Brain Research 159, 214–218.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grant, A.C. & Lettvin, J.Y. (1991). Sources of electrical transients in tectal neuropil of the frog, Rana pipiens. Brain Research 560, 106–121.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Green, J.D. (1958). A simple microelectrode for recording in the central nervous system. Nature 182, 962.Google Scholar
Grobstein, P. & Comer, C. (1983). The nucleus isthmi as an intertectal relay for the ipsilateral oculotectal projection in the frog, Rana pipiens. Journal of Comparative Neurology 217, 54–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grobstein, P., Comer, C., Hollyday, M., & Archer, S.M. (1978). A crossed isthmo-tectal projection in Rana pipiens and its involvement in the ipsilateral visuotectal projection. Brain Research 156, 117–123.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grobstein, P., Comer, C., & Kostyk, S. (1980). The potential binocular field and its tectal representation in Rana pipiens. Journal of Comparative Neurology 190, 175–185.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gruberg, E.R. (1989). Nucleus isthmi and optic tectum in frogs. In Visuomotor Coordination, ed. Ewert, J-P. & Arbib, M.A., pp. 341–356. New York: Plenum Press.CrossRef
Gruberg, E.R., Hughes, T. &, Karten, H.J. (1994). Synaptic interrelationships between the optic tectum and the ipsilateral nucleus isthmi in Rana pipiens. Journal of Comparative Neurology 339(3), 353–364.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gruberg, E.R. & Lettvin, J.Y. (1980). Anatomy and physiology of a binocular system in the frog, Rana pipiens. Brain Research 192, 313–325.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gruberg, E.R. & Udin, S.B. (1978). Topographic projections between the nucleus isthmi and the tectum in the frog Rana pipiens. Journal of Comparative Neurology 179, 487–500.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gruberg, E.R., Wallace, M.T., Caine, H.S., & Mote, M.I. (1991). Behavioral and physiological consequences of unilateral ablation of the nucleus isthmi in the leopard frog. Brain, Behavior, and Evolution 37, 92–103.Google Scholar
Hoffman, M.B., Tolhurst, D.J., Moore, A.T., & Morland, A.B. (2003). Organization of the visual cortex in human albinism. Journal of Neuroscience 23, 8921–8930.Google Scholar
Keating, M.J. & Gaze, R.M. (1970). The ipsilateral retinotectal pathway in the frog. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Physiology 55, 284–292.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lázár, G. & Székély, G. (1967). Golgi studies on the optic center of the frog. Journal für Hirnforsch 9(4), 329–344.Google Scholar
Lee, D.N. & Lishman, J.R. (1975). Visual proprioceptive control of stance. Journal of Human Movement Studies 195, 87–95.Google Scholar
Lettvin, J.Y., Maturana, H.R., McCulloch, W.S., & Pitts, W.H. (1959). What the frog's eye tells the frog's brain. Proceedings of the Institute of Radio Engineers 47, 1940–1957.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leventhal, A.G. & Creel, D.J. (1985). Retinal projections and functional architecture of cortical areas 17 and 18 in the tyrosinase-negative albino cat. Journal of Neuroscience 5, 795–807.Google Scholar
Maturana, H.R., Lettvin, J.Y., McCulloch, W.S., & Pitts, W.H. (1960). Anatomy and physiology of vision in the frog (Rana pipiens). Journal of General Physiology 43, 129–175.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Potter, H.D. (1969). Structural characteristics of cell and fiber populations in the optic tectum of the frog (Rana catesbiana). Journal of Comparative Neurology 136, 203–232.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ramón, P. (1890). Invesigaciones de histología comparada en los centros ópticos de distintos vertebrados. Ph.D. Thesis, El Claustro de la Facultad de Medicina de la Universidad Central.
Scalia, F., Grant, A.C., Reyes, M., & Lettvin, J.Y. (1995). Functional properties of regenerated axons terminating in the primary olfactory cortex. Brain Research 685, 187–197.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tsai, J., Waldeck, R., & Gruberg, E.R. (1995). Studies on the optic chiasm of the leopard frog II: Organization of retinal tectal fibers in the optic chiasm. Brain, Behavior, and Evolution 46(2), 95–107.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Udin, S.B., Fisher, M.D., & Nordeen, J.J. (1990). Ultrastructure of the crossed isthmotectal projection in Xenopus frogs. Journal of Comparative Neurology 292, 246–254.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wylie, D.R. & Frost, B.J. (1990). Binocular neurons in the nucleus of the basal optic root (nBOR) of the pigeon are selective for either translational or rotational visual flow. Visual Neuroscience 5, 489–495.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wylie, D.R. & Frost, B.J. (1991). Purkinje cells in the vestibulocerebellum of the pigeon respond best to either translational or rotational wholefield visual motion. Experimental Brain Research 86, 229–232.Google Scholar