Indirect, across-the-midline retinotectal projections and representation of ipsilateral visual field in superior colliculus of the cat

1. In agreement with previous work, we have found that the ipsilateral visual field is represented in an extensive rostral portion--from one-third to one-half--of the superior colliculus (SC) of the cat. This representation is binocular. The SC representation of the ipsilateral visual field can be mediated both directly, by crossed retinotectal connections originating from temporal hemiretina, and indirectly, by across-the-midline connections relaying visual information from one-half of the brain to contralateral SC. 2. In order to study the indirect, across-the-midline visual input to the SC, we have recorded responses of SC neurons to visual stimuli presented to either the ipsilateral or the contralateral eye of cats with a midsagittal splitting of the optic chiasm. Units driven by the ipsilateral eye, presumably through the direct retinotectal input and/or corticotectal connections from ipsilateral visual cortex, were found throughout the SC, except at its caudal pole, which normally receives fibers from the extreme periphery of the contralateral nasal hemiretina. Units driven by the contralateral eye, undoubtedly through an indirect across-the-midline connection, were found only in the anterior portion of the SC, in which is normally represented the ipsilateral visual field. Receptive fields in both ipsilateral and contralateral eye had properties typical of SC receptive fields in cats with intact optic pathways. 3. All units having a receptive field in the contralateral eye had also a receptive field in the ipsilateral eye; for each of these units, the receptive fields in both eyes invariably abutted the vertical meridian of the visual field. The receptive field in one eye had about the same elevation relative to the horizontal meridian and the same vertical extension as the receptive field in the other eye; the two receptive fields of each binocular unit matched each other at the vertical meridian and formed a combined receptive field straddling the vertical midline of the horopter...     

Both striate cortex and superior colliculus contribute to visual properties of neurons in superior temporal polysensory area of macaque monkey

Although the tectofugal system projects to the primate cerebral cortex by way of the pulvinar, previous studies have failed to find any physiological evidence that the superior colliculus influences visual activity in the cortex. We studied the relative contributions of the tectofugal and geniculostriate systems to the visual properties of neurons in the superior temporal polysensory area (STP) by comparing the effects of unilateral removal of striate cortex, the superior colliculus, or of both structures. In the intact monkey, STP neurons have large, bilateral receptive fields. Complete unilateral removal of striate cortex did not eliminate visual responses of STP neurons in the contralateral visual hemifield; rather, nearly half the cells still responded to visual stimuli in the hemifield contralateral to the lesion. Thus the visual properties of STP neurons are not completely dependent on the geniculostriate system. Unilateral striate lesions did affect the response properties of STP neurons in three ways. Whereas most STP neurons in the intact monkey respond similarly to stimuli in the two visual hemifields, responses to stimuli in the hemifield contralateral to the striate lesion were usually weaker than responses in the ipsilateral hemifield. Whereas the responses of many STP neurons in the intact monkey were selective for the direction of stimulus motion or for stimulus form, responses in the hemifield contralateral to the striate lesion were not selective for either motion or form. Whereas the median receptive field in the intact monkey extended 80 degrees into the contralateral visual field, the receptive fields of cells with responses in the contralateral field that survived the striate lesions had a median border that extended only 50 degrees into the contralateral visual field. Removal of both striate cortex and the superior colliculus in the same hemisphere abolished the responses of STP neurons to visual stimuli in the hemifield contralateral to the combined lesion. Nearly 80% of the cells still responded to visual stimuli in the hemifield ipsilateral to the lesion. Unilateral removal of the superior colliculus alone had only small effects on visual responses in STP. Receptive-field size and visual response strength were slightly reduced in the hemifield contralateral to the collicular lesion. As in the intact monkey, selectivity for stimulus motion or form were similar in the two visual hemifields. We conclude that both striate cortex and the superior colliculus contribute to the visual responses of STP neurons. Striate cortex is crucial for the movement and stimulus specificity of neurons in STP.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)     

Naso-temporal asymmetry for signals invisible to the retinotectal pathway

Monocular viewing conditions show an asymmetry between stimuli presented in the temporal and nasal visual fields in their efficiency for automatically triggering eye saccades and grasping attention. For instance, observers free to make a saccade to one of two stimuli presented together orient preferentially to the temporal stimulus. Such naso-temporal asymmetry (NTA) has been assumed to reflect the asymmetry in the retinotectal pathway to the superior colliculus. We tested this hypothesis using S cone stimuli, which are invisible to the magnocellular and retinotectal pathways. The observed NTA in choice saccades to bilateral stimuli was no less present for S cone stimuli than for luminance stimuli. Additionally, the amplitude of the NTA can be enhanced when S cone signals are added to luminance signals. These results suggest that behavioral NTA in humans is not diagnostic of retinotectal mediation. Furthermore, we found no asymmetries in latency, suggesting that the NTA in saccade choice does not originate simply from a bottom-up asymmetry in any low level visual pathways.     

Restoration of acoustic orienting into a cortically deaf hemifield by reversible deactivation of the contralesional superior colliculus: the acoustic "Sprague Effect"

Removal of all contiguous visual cortical areas of one hemisphere results in a contralateral hemianopia. Subsequent deactivation of the contralesional superior colliculus (SC) nullifies the effects of the visual cortex ablation and restores visual orienting responses into the cortically blind hemifield. This deficit nullification has become known as the "Sprague Effect." Similarly, in the auditory system, unilateral ablation of auditory cortex results in severe sound localization deficits, as assessed by acoustic orienting, to stimuli in the contralateral hemifield. The purpose of this study was to examine whether auditory orienting responses can be restored into the impaired hemifield during deactivation of the contralesional SC. Three mature cats were trained to orient toward and approach an acoustic stimulus (broadband, white noise burst) that was presented centrally, or at one of 12 peripheral loci, spaced at 15 degrees intervals. After training, a cryoloop was chronically implanted over the dorsal surface of the right SC. During cooling of the cooling loop to temperatures sufficient to deactivate the superficial and intermediate layers (SZ, SGS, SO, SGI), auditory orienting responses were eliminated into the left (contracooled) hemifield while leaving acoustic orienting into the right (ipsicooled) hemifield unimpaired. This deficit was temperature-dependently graded from periphery to center. After the effectiveness of the SC cooling loop was verified, auditory cortex of the middle and posterior ectosylvian and anterior and posterior sylvian gyri was removed from the left hemisphere. As expected, the auditory cortex ablation resulted in a profound deficit in orienting to acoustic stimuli presented at any position in the right (contralesional) hemifield, while leaving acoustic orienting into the left (ipsilesional) hemifield unimpaired. The ablations of auditory cortex did not have any impact on a visual detection and orienting task. The additional deactivation of the contralesional SC to temperatures sufficient to cool the superficial and intermediate layers nullified the deficit caused by the auditory cortex ablation and acoustic orienting responses were restored into the right hemifield. This restoration was temperature-dependently graded from center to periphery. The deactivations were localized and confirmed with reduced uptake of radiolabeled 2-deoxyglucose. Therefore deactivation of the right superior colliculus after the ablation of the left auditory cortex yields a fundamentally different result from that identified during deactivation of the right superior colliculus before the removal of left auditory cortex in the same animal. Thus the "Sprague Effect" is not unique to a particular sensory system and deactivation of the contralesional SC can restore either visual or acoustic orienting responses into an impaired hemifield after cortical damage.     

The effects of prenatal and neonatal monocular enucleation on visual topography in the uncrossed retinal pathway to the rat superior colliculus

Summary The visual representation in the uncrossed retinal projection to the superior colliculus (SC) was examined electrophysiologically by recording multiunit responses in paralysed, anaesthetised adult rats (both pigmented and albino), which had been monocularly enucleated either prenatally or soon after birth. This manipulation partially stabilises an exuberant neonatal projection from the remaining eye to the ipsilateral SC. Neuronal responses were also stronger and the multi-unit receptive fields larger than in intact animals. Many of the visual fields recorded on penetrations in caudal SC were located in the peripheral ipsilateral visual hemifield, corresponding to nasal retina. Such receptive fields are not seen in normal animals and were not found in animals enucleated on day 3 or later. The topographic representation of the dorso-ventral retinal axis, lateral to medial in the SC, was normal in all experimental animals. The representation of the naso-temporal retinal axis was abnormal and more variable. In all operated animals as the recording electrode was moved caudally away from the rostral pole of the SC, the corresponding receptive fields moved gradually from up to 40° in the ipsilateral visual hemifield to about 40° into the contralateral hemifield (a location corresponding to the peripheral edge of the temporal retina). This is the mapping polarity found in the normal uncrossed retinal projection. In the enucleated animals, the map was expanded and frequently displayed a clustering of fields arising from far temporal retina. In animals enucleated prenatally or on the day of birth, visual responses could be recorded in more caudal SC. The corresponding receptive fields now moved nasally on the retina, generating reversals in the map. The most caudal penetrations in these early enucleates frequently gave receptive fields located in retina nasal to the optic disc, up to 90 degrees into the ipsilateral visual hemifield. These results demonstrate that a temporal relationship exists between the order and mapping polarity of the visual field in SC and the time of enucleation. Prenatal enucleation produces reversals of the mapping polarity in caudal SC while neonatal enucleation produces an expanded map but one with a mapping polarity appropriate for an uncrossed projection     

Bilateral impact of unilateral visual cortex lesions on the superior colliculus

We examined the functional impact of a long-standing, unilateral primary visual cortex lesion on the superior colliculus (SC) using radiolabeled 2-deoxyglucose (2DG) as a marker of neural activity. In accord with known corticotectal connectivity and functional influence, 2DG uptake in the superficial layers of the ipsilesional SC was decreased. We also found a decrease in the superficial layers of the contralesional SC. These data suggest that modifications in activity in one SC can have a substantial influence on activity in its contralateral partner, and that processing in one visual hemifield does not occur independently of processing of signals in the opposite hemifield. The effects are not mediated by the contralateral hemisphere but are probably mediated by intercollicular circuitry.     

Composition of geniculostriate input ot superior colliculus of the rhesus monkey.

1. In order to examine the composition of the geniculostriate input to the superior colliculus, microelectrode recordings were undertaken in this structure of the rhesus monkey while parvocellular or magnocellular laminae of the LGN were reversibly inactivated by injecting minute quantities of lidocaine or MgCl2. 2. The inactivation of magnocellular laminae disrupted the visually driven activity of most cells in the topographically corresponding areas of the colliculus, but not in the superficial retinotectal recipient zone. The inactivation of parvocellular lamina had no effect on the visually driven activity of collicular cells. 3. Several controls were carried out to rule out the possibility of intervention with fibers of passage. We ascertained that the LGN injections did not affect the direct retinotectal pathway by comparing the effect of such inactivation with the effect produced by reversibly cooling visual cortex. These two manipulations yielded similar results: cells in the most superficial regions of the superior colliculus were unaffected by both cortical cooling and by magnocellular injections, while below this region the response of collicular cells was reduced or eliminated in both cases. 4. These results suggest that the indirect visual pathway to the superior colliculus via cortex is activated selectively by the broad-band system, which is relayed through magnocellular LGN. The color-opponent system does not appear to have a corticotectal input sufficient to drive collicular cells independently.     

Corticotectal circuit in the cat: a functional analysis of the lateral geniculate nucleus layers of origin

1. The dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) of the cat is a major thalamic relay between the retina and several visual cortical areas. These cortical areas in turn project to the superior colliculus (SC). The aim of the present experiment was to determine which LGN layers provide a necessary input to the corticotectal circuit. 2. Individual layers of the LGN were reversibly inactivated by microinjection of cobalt chloride during recording of visual responses in the retinotopically corresponding part of the superior colliculus. 3. For cells driven through the contralateral eye, inactivation of layer A or the medial interlaminar nucleus (MIN) had little effect on visual responsiveness in the superior colliculus. In contrast, inactivation of layer C abolished visual responses at one-quarter of the SC recording sites, reduced responses at another quarter, and left half of the recording sites unaffected. 4. For cells driven through the ipsilateral eye, inactivation of layer C1 or the MIN had no effect. Inactivation of layer A1 uniformly reduced visual responses in the superior colliculus and usually abolished them entirely. 5. These results are compatible with previous work showing that cortical input to the SC originates from Y-cells. They indicate that two of the five Y-cell containing layers (A1 and C) provide major inputs to the corticotectal circuit. The results suggest that layer A1 is functionally allied to layer C as well as to layer A.     

Evidence of a collicular input to the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus in rabbits — electrophysiology

Summary In anesthetized and paralyzed rabbits, unit responses of lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) cells to focal electrical stimulation of the superior colliculus were studied. Geniculate responses to collicular stimulation (SCS) were compared with responses to optic nerve shock (ONS). A weak correlation coefficient suggested that collicular stimulation did not fire geniculate cells through collateral activation. Further differentiation between collicular and retinofugal inputs to LGN was made possible by repetitive stimulation. Geniculate cells which responded to collicular stimulation were relay cells as they were antidromically invaded from the visual cortex. This ruled out recordings from the ventral geniculate, since this area does not project to the visual cortex. A direct colliculo-geniculate pathway was revealed by antidromic activation of collicular cells by stimulation of the dorsal LGN. Finally, triggering flashes by collicular firing resulted in a marked modification of the geniculate test response. The results suggest that the superior colliculus sends fibers to the LGN and is capable of modulating the retino-cortical neuronal message at the level of the LGN.     

Effect of eye rotation on visual-field map onto superior colliculus and visual cortex

We used multiunit recording to assess the effect of rotating one eye approximately 90 degrees at about the time of normal eye opening. Rotation of the eye did not alter the topography of the retinal maps onto visual cortex or superior colliculus. The intorted eye drove cells at most recording points in the contralateral visual cortex and superior colliculus. In its ipsilateral colliculus the intorted eye drove cells at about 10% of the recording points; that is, the temporal retina of this eye was quite ineffective in driving collicular cells. In its ipsilateral cortex the intorted eye drove cells at about 30% of the recording sites. The unoperated eye drove cells at all locations in both colliculus and cortex on both sides of the brain. The effects of extorsion were studied only in the superior colliculus. Extorsion and intorsion produced similar results except that extorsion produced a less severe deficit in the ability of the temporal retina to drive cells in its ipsilateral colliculus. Cutting all the extraocular muscles without eye rotation was studied only in the colliculus and produced results similar to those produced by intorsion and extorsion. However, the temporal retina of the operated eye was more effective after muscle cut alone than after intorsion or extorsion. Forcing the animal to use the rotated right eye alone on alternate days during the first 3 mo of life did not decrease the deficits. Almost all recording sites in the right colliculus were driven only by the unoperated left eye. If the left eye was sutured when the right eye was rotated, only the right eye drove cells in the left colliculus, but the two eyes were about equally effective in the right colliculus; however, rather few sites in the right colliculus were binocularly driven. We conclude that both extraocular muscle section and eye rotation reduce the effectiveness of the uncrossed input from the operated eye to the superior colliculus and visual cortex. The effects on the superior colliculus are, however, greater.     

Further studies on the aberrant crossed visual corticotectal pathway in rats

Summary An aberrant crossed corticotectal pathway can be generated by removal of one visual cortex and the contralateral superior colliculus from newborn rats. This aberrant crossed corticotectal projection arises from the pyramidal neurons located in layer V of the visual cortex and terminates in a spatially orderly manner in the appropriate laminae of the cortically deafferented contralateral colliculus. Comparable results cannot be reproduced by unilateral collicular lesions alone. The significance of these findings and the possible mechanisms involved in the formation of the aberrant pathway are discussed and compared with the retinotectal system.The research was supported by USPHS Grant EY-00596 from the National Institutes of Health     

Visual responses of the human superior colliculus: a high-resolution functional magnetic resonance imaging study

The superior colliculus (SC) is a multimodal laminar structure located on the roof of the brain stem. The SC is a key structure in a distributed network of areas that mediate saccadic eye movements and shifts of attention across the visual field and has been extensively studied in nonhuman primates. In humans, it has proven difficult to study the SC with functional MRI (fMRI) because of its small size, deep location, and proximity to pulsating vascular structures. Here, we performed a series of high-resolution fMRI studies at 3 T to investigate basic visual response properties of the SC. The retinotopic organization of the SC was determined using the traveling wave method with flickering checkerboard stimuli presented at different polar angles and eccentricities. SC activations were confined to stimulation of the contralateral hemifield. Although a detailed retinotopic map was not observed, across subjects, the upper and lower visual fields were represented medially and laterally, respectively. Responses were dominantly evoked by stimuli presented along the horizontal meridian of the visual field. We also measured the sensitivity of the SC to luminance contrast, which has not been previously reported in primates. SC responses were nearly saturated by low contrast stimuli and showed only small response modulation with higher contrast stimuli, indicating high sensitivity to stimulus contrast. Responsiveness to stimulus motion in the SC was shown by robust activations evoked by moving versus static dot stimuli that could not be attributed to eye movements. The responses to contrast and motion stimuli were compared with those in the human lateral geniculate nucleus. Our results provide first insights into basic visual responses of the human SC and show the feasibility of studying subcortical structures using high-resolution fMRI.     

Cholinergic transmission in subcortical and cortical visual centers of rats: No evidence for the involvement of primary optic system

Summary The effect of unilateral enucleation, ablation of the visual cortex or coagulation of the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) upon the activity of choline acetyltransferase (ChAc) and acetylcholinesterase (AChE) in different structures of the visual system of albino rats was studied. The localization and extent of the degeneration pattern were followed up by histological silver degeneration methods. Afferents from the retina project mainly contralaterally to the dorsal and ventral LGN, the pretectal region and the superior colliculus. Afferent fibres from the dorsal LGN enter the visual cortex in area 17 only. Neurons of this area project back ipsilaterally to the LGN and the superior colliculus (SC).No significant decrease in the activity of the cholinergic marker enzyme choline acetyltransferase could be observed under any of the experimental conditions; there was rather a tendency to increased activity in the subcortical centres. AChE as a less specific marker also exhibited no gross changes in activity in the lesioned animals. The results add more direct proof to pharmacological and physiological evidence that ACh is not involved in the synaptic transmission of the direct optic projections in rats, either at the subcortical or at the cortical level.Sponsored by a grant of the Ministry of Science and Technology of the GDRThe able technical collaboration of Mrs. Ursula Köhler, Mrs. Brigitte Sawatzke and Mrs. Hildegard Gruschka is greatly acknowledged.     

Spatial relation of the acetylcholinesterase-rich domain to the visual topography in the feline superior colliculus

Summary The superior colliculus (SC) of the cat shows a prominent compartmentalized organization at the level of its intermediate layers. The mosaic of these compartments is apparent in the pattern of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) staining. Patches of high AChE-activity are sharply set off from surrounding areas in the caudal SC while they are less distinct anteriorly. The rostral part lacks such obvious compartments. Thus, a structural reorganization apparently cuts across the topographical representations spread out in the SC. In order to test if this compartmental gradient relates to the topographic maps of the colliculus, retinotopic landmarks were visualized in the superficial layers by labeling the retinotectal pathway. In the SC ipsilateral to the eye injected with horseradish peroxidase (HRP) a paucity of labeling indicated the zone representing the ipsilateral visual half-field. Serial reconstructions of collicular sections, cut longitudinally or tangentially, revealed that the non-compartmentalized part of the intermediate layers corresponds to the representation of the ipsilateral visual half-field in the layers above, while an intricate mosaic array of compartments prevail in tectal zones related to the representation of the contralateral visual half-field.     

Topographic variations in W-cell input to cat superior colliculus

Summary Most of the retinal input to the cat's superior colliculus (SC) arises from W-cells of the contralateral eye and terminates just below the tectal surface. The goal of this study was to determine whether the strength of this input is uniform over the collicular map or, instead, exhibits topographic variations as has been reported for the retinotectal Y-cell projection (McIlwain and Lufkin 1976). Monosynaptic inputs from the principal W-cell projection mediate the late negative potential (LNP), a collicular field potential that can be evoked by shocks to the optic pathway. We assumed that the amplitude of the potential provided a measure of the strength of the W-cell input to the upper superficial gray layer. Using a fixed stimulus, we measured the maximal amplitude of the LNP at 90 topographically identified tectal sites in 5 cats. The amplitude of the LNP varied as much as 5-fold over the SC and was systematically related to the azimuthal position of the recording site. LNP amplitudes were consistently smallest in the representation of the area centralis and vertical meridian and largest in the representations of the contralateral hemifield periphery and the ipsilateral hemifield. There was little systematic variation in LNP amplitude as a function of elevation in the map. The observed variations did not result from non-uniform activation of retinal afferents or drift in properties of the recording electrodes, stimuli, or preparation. The results suggest that the principal W-cell input to the SC is weaker in the representation of the area centralis than elsewhere in the map. These topographic variations are similar to those reported for the retinotectal Y-cell projection (McIlwain and Lufkin 1976) and are consistent with anatomical evidence for thinning of retinal input in the area-centralis representation (Graybiel 1975; Harting and Guillery 1976; Mize 1983). An important implication of these results is that the scaling of the collicular retinotopic map may not be proportional to the spatial density of tectally projecting W-cells.     

Effects of early binocular deprivation on visual input to cat superior colliculus.

1. Recent work has demonstrated at least three distinct inputs to the superior colliculus in normal cats: a) the W-direct retinotectal pathway; b) the Y-direct retinotectal pathway; and c) the Y-indirect pathway which involves Y-cells in retina and lateral geniculate nucleus plus complex cells in cortex, the last being the corticotectal cells. 2. We investigated these inputs in five cats raised with binocular eyelid closure by studying the electrophysiological properties of 164 collicular neurons. After such binocular deprivation, the Y-indirect pathway was missing and the Y-direct pathway appeared reduced, although the W-direct input seemed unaffected. 3. Despite the loss of the Y-indirect input, collicular activation to electrical stimulation of cortex seemed normal in these cats. This suggested that the Y-indirect loop was affected between the optic tract and cortex, and this, in turn, correlated to the previously described reduction in recordable Y-cells from the lateral geniculate nucleus of binocularly deprived cats. 4. We found receptive-field correlates to this loss of Y-direct and Y-indirect input in the binocularly deprived cats. Compared to collicular neurons in normal cats, those in deprived cats exhibited abnormally strong dominance by the contralateral eye, loss of directional selectivity, and loss of responsiveness to fast visual stimuli. 5. These and other data lead to the suggestion that in normal and monocularly deprived cats, the corticotectal input dominates collicular receptive-field properties, whereas in binocularly deprived cats, the remaining retinotectal input dominates these properties.     

Distinct early and late subcomponents of the photic blink reflex: Response characteristics in patients with retrogeniculate lesions

To assess cortical contributions to the photic blink reflex, signal averaged electromyograms (EMG) were compared for responses to strobe flashes presented within the blind and sighted hemifields of 13 patients with occipital lobe lesions. Reflexes evoked by flashes within the scotoma were virtually identical to those evoked by flashes within the intact visual field. This suggests that both the early and late components of this reflex (R50 and R80, respectively) are mediated by subcortical structures that do not require, or benefit from, conscious visual processing. Additional findings included larger R80s at the eyelid contralateral to the lesion, regardless of stimulated hemifield. This presumably reflects the loss of a tonic descending influence of visual cortex onto the motor limb of the reflex arc. The R80 was also larger for stimuli activating the crossed (temporal hemifield) rather than the uncrossed (nasal hemifield) afferent pathway.     

Neural responses to free-field auditory stimulation in the superior colliculus of the wallaby (Macropus eugenii)

Auditory responses to free-field broad band stimulation from different directions were recorded from clusters of neurones in the superior colliculus (SC) of the anaesthetized tammar wallaby. The auditory responses were found approximately 2 mm beneath the first recording of visually evoked responses in the superficial layers, the vast majority being solely auditory in nature; only one recording responded to both auditory and visual stimulation. Responses to suprathreshold intensities displayed sharp spatial tuning to sound in the contralateral hemifield. Those from the rostral pole of the SC disclosed a preference for auditory stimuli in the azimuthal anterior field, whereas those in the caudal SC preferentially responded to sounds in the posterior field. A continuum of directionally tuned responses was seen along the rostrocaudal axis of the SC so that the entire azimuthal contralateral auditory hemifield was represented in the SC. Furthermore, tight spatial alignment was evident between the best position of the visual responses in the superficial layers in azimuth and the peak angle of the auditory response in the deeper layers.     

Reduction of glutamate content in rat superior colliculus after retino-tectal denervation

The effect of afferent lesions on glutamate content was measured in the lamina of the superior colliculus (SC) in the rat. The analysis was performed 12 days after unilateral enucleation (left eye), or ablation of visual cortex (right), or both enucleation and ablation. The glutamate contained in the superficial grey layer (SGL) and deep layer was measured in the sectioned freeze-dried sample using an enzymatic cycling method of NAD-NADH. The upper layer of SGL contralateral to enucleation exhibited a significant reduction (23%) in glutamate content. Combining enucleation and ablation further decreased (35%) glutamate content. Additionally, the synaptic potential evoked in the SGL of SC slices after stimulation of optic layer was blocked by the application of kynurenic acid (3 mM) or DNQX (30 microM). These results indicate that the retino-tectal pathway in the rat can be glutamatergic in nature.     

Monocular eye movement in the cat: its corticotectal pathway

The corticotectal pathway from the fundus of the cat's coronal sulcus (CORo) from which monocular movements of contralateral eye were evoked was studied using electrophysiological and anatomical techniques. Neurons in the CORo were activated antidromically by electrical stimulation of the deep layer of the superior colliculus (SC). Labeled cells were found in the CORo following horseradish peroxidase injection in the SC.