Optical Techniques Reveal Functional Organization in Monkey Striate Cortex

1989 ◽  
pp. 289-306
Author(s):  
G. G. Blasdel
Keyword(s):  
Striate Cortex ◽  
Functional Organization ◽  
Optical Techniques

Binocular visual processing in the owl’s telencephalon

1979 ◽  
Vol 204 (1157) ◽  
pp. 435-454 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Visual Processing ◽  
Striate Cortex ◽  
Functional Organization ◽  
Receptive Fields ◽  
Field Size ◽  
Evolutionary Origins ◽  
Structural Differences ◽  
Output Neurons ◽  
Global Stereopsis ◽  
Orientation Movement

Single neurons recorded from the owl’s visual Wulst are surprisingly similar to those found in mammalian striate cortex. The receptive fields of Wulst neurons are elaborated, in an apparently hierarchical fashion,from those of their monocular, concentrically organized inputs to produce binocular interneurons with increasingly sophisticated requirements for stimulus orientation, movement and binocular disparity. Output neurons located in the superficial laminae of the Wulst are the most sophisticated of all, with absolute requirements for a combination of stimuli, which include binocular presentation at a particular horizontal binocular dis­parity, and with no response unless all of the stimulus conditions are satisfied simultaneously. Such neurons have the properties required for ‘global stereopsis,’ including a receptive field size many times larger than their optimal stimulus, which is more closely matched to the receptive fields of the simpler, disparity-selective interneurons. These marked similarities in functional organization between the avian and mammalian systems exist in spite of a number of structural differences which reflect their separate evolutionary origins. Discussion therefore includes the possibility that there may exist for nervous systems only a very small number of possible solutions, perhaps a unique one, to the problem of stereopsis.

scholarly journals ALTERATIONS IN THE FUNCTIONAL ORGANIZATION OF THE STRIATE CORTEX OF THE NEWBORN MONKEY IN RESPONSE TO MONOCULAR VISUAL DEPRIVATION

1977 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 563-563
Author(s):  
Charles Kennedy ◽  
Michael Des Rosiers ◽  
Osamu Sakurada ◽  
Louis Sokoloff
Keyword(s):  
Striate Cortex ◽  
Functional Organization ◽  
Visual Deprivation

Organization of transcription and pre-mRNA splicing within the mammalian cell nucleus

1995 ◽  
Vol 53 ◽  
pp. 768-769
Author(s):  
D.L. Spector ◽  
S. Huang ◽  
S. Kaurin
Keyword(s):  
Rna Polymerase Ii ◽  
Cell Nucleus ◽  
Functional Organization ◽  
Mrna Splicing ◽  
Splicing Factors ◽  
Interchromatin Granule Clusters ◽  
Interchromatin Granule ◽  
Nuclear Regions ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
Perichromatin Fibrils

We have been interested in the organization of RNA polymerase II transcription and pre-mRNA splicing within the cell nucleus. Several models have been proposed for the functional organization of RNA within the eukaryotic nucleus and for the relationship of this organization to the distribution of pre-mRNA splicing factors. One model suggests that RNAs which must be spliced are capable of recruiting splicing factors to the sites of transcription from storage and/or reassembly sites. When one examines the organization of splicing factors in the nucleus in comparison to the sites of chromatin it is clear that splicing factors are not localized in coincidence with heterochromatin (Fig. 1). Instead, they are distributed in a speckled pattern which is composed of both perichromatin fibrils and interchromatin granule clusters. The perichromatin fibrils are distributed on the periphery of heterochromatin and on the periphery of interchromatin granule clusters as well as being diffusely distributed throughout the nucleoplasm. These nuclear regions have been previously shown to represent initial sites of incorporation of 3H-uridine.

Immunolocalization of nuclear antigens in cryofixed cells which have been prepared by molecular distillation drying or freeze-substitution

1990 ◽  
Vol 48 (3) ◽  
pp. 898-899
Author(s):  
David L. Spector ◽  
Robert J. Derby
Keyword(s):  
Cell Nucleus ◽  
Molecular Distillation ◽  
Functional Organization ◽  
Freeze Substitution ◽  
3 Dimensional ◽  
Small Nuclear Ribonucleoprotein ◽  
Nuclear Antigens ◽  
Dimensional Reconstruction ◽  
Nuclear Regions ◽  
Immunoperoxidase Labeling

Studies in our laboratory are involved in evaluating the structural and functional organization of the mammalian cell nucleus. Since several major classes (U1, U2, U4/U6, U5) of small nuclear ribonucleoprotein particles (snRNPs) play a crucial role in the processing of pre-mRNA molecules, we have been interested in the localization of these particles within the cell nucleus. Using pre-embedding immunoperoxidase labeling combined with 3-dimensional reconstruction, we have recently shown that nuclear regions enriched in snRNPs form a reticular network within the nucleoplasm which extends between the nucleolar surface and the nuclear envelope. In the present study we were inte rested in extending these nuclear localizations using cell preparation techniques which avoid slow penetration of fixatives, chemical crosslinking of potential antigens and solvent extraction. CHOC 400 cells were cryofixed using a CF 100 ultra rapid cooling device (LifeCell Corp.). After cryofixation cells were molecular distillation dried, vapor osmicated, in filtra ted in 100% Spurr resin in vacuo and polymerized in molds a t 60°C. Using this procedure we were able to evaluate the distribution of snRNPs in resin embedded cells which had not been chemically fixed, incubated in cryoprotectants or extracted with solvents.

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