scholarly journals Discrete reduction patterns of parvalbumin and calbindin D-28k immunoreactivity in the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus and the striate cortex of adult macaque monkeys after monocular enucleation

1994 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ingmar Blümcke ◽  
Eduardo Weruaga ◽  
Sandor Kasas ◽  
Anita E. Hendrickson ◽  
Marco R. Celio

AbstractWe analyzed the immunohistochemical distribution of the two calcium-binding proteins, parvalbumin (PV) and calbindin D-28k (CB), in the primary visual cortex and lateral dorsal geniculate nucleus (dLGN) of monocularly enucleated macaque monkeys (Macaca fascicularis and Macaca nemestrind) in order to determine how the expression of PV and CB is affected by functional inactivity. The monkeys survived 1–17 weeks after monocular enucleation. The distribution pattern of each of the proteins was examined immunocytochemically using monoclonal antibodies and compared with that of the metabolic marker cytochrome oxidase (CO). We recorded manually the number of immunostained neurons and estimated the concentration of immunoreactive staining product using a computerized image-acquisition system. Our results indicate a decrease of approximately 30% in the labeling of PV-immunoreactive (ir) neuropil particularly in those layers of denervated ocular-dominance columns receiving the geniculocortical input. There was no change in the number of PV-ir neurons in any compartment irrespective of the enucleation interval. For CB-ir, we found a 20% decrease in the neuropil labeling in layer 2/3 of the denervated ocular-dominance columns. In addition, a subset of pyramidal CB-ir neurons in layers 2 and 4B, which are weakly stained in control animals, showed decreased labeling. In the dLGN of enucleated animals, PV-ir and CB-ir were decreased only in the neuropil of the denervated layers.From these results, we conclude that cortical interneurons and geniculate projection neurons still express PV and CB in their cell bodies after disruption of the direct functional input from one eye. The only distinct decrease of PV and CB expression is seen in axon terminals from retinal ganglion cells in the dLGN, and in the axons and terminals of both geniculocortical projection cells and cortical interneurons in the cerebral cortex.

2021 ◽  
Vol 38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hsueh Chung Lu ◽  
Robyn J. Laing ◽  
Jaime F. Olavarria

Abstract Callosal patches in primary visual cortex of Long Evans rats, normally associated with ocular dominance columns, emerge by postnatal day 10 (P10), but they do not form in rats monocularly enucleated a few days before P10. We investigated whether we could replicate the results of monocular enucleation by using tetrodotoxin (TTX) to block neural activity in one eye, or in primary visual cortex. Animals received daily intravitreal (P6–P9) or intracortical (P7–P9) injections of TTX, and our physiological evaluation of the efficacy of these injections indicated that the blockade induced by a single injection lasted at least 24 h. Four weeks later, the patterns of callosal connections in one hemisphere were revealed after multiple injections of horseradish peroxidase in the other hemisphere. We found that in rats receiving either intravitreal or cortical injections of TTX, the patterns of callosal patches analyzed in tangential sections from the flattened cortex were not significantly different from the pattern in normal rats. Our findings, therefore, suggest that the effects of monocular enucleation on the distribution of callosal connections are not due to the resulting imbalance of afferent ganglion cell activity, and that factors other than neural activity are likely involved.


2000 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 495-508 ◽  
Author(s):  
JONATHAN C. HORTON ◽  
DAVINA R. HOCKING ◽  
DANIEL L. ADAMS

Strabismus induces an abnormal pattern of alternating light and dark columns of cytochrome oxidase (CO) activity in macaque striate cortex. This pattern may arise because visual perception is suppressed in one eye to avoid diplopia. To test whether CO activity is reduced in the ocular dominance columns of the suppressed eye, we performed monocular enucleation to co-label the ocular dominance columns with Zif268 immunohistochemistry in seven exotropic adult Macaca fascicularis. This approach was unsuccessful, for two reasons. First, Zif268 yielded inconsistent labelling, that was usually greater in the enucleated eye's ocular dominance columns, but was sometimes greater in the intact eye's columns. Therefore, Zif268 was not a reliable method for identifying the ocular dominance columns serving each eye. Second, in three control animals we found that a brief survival period following monocular enucleation (needed for Zif268 levels to change) was long enough to alter CO staining. For example, a survival time of only 3 h was sufficient to induce CO columns, indicating that the activity of this enzyme fluctuates more rapidly than realized previously. Independent of these findings, we have also discovered that acute monocular enucleation produces a vivid pattern of ocular dominance columns visible in unstained or CO-stained sections under dark-field illumination. The ocular dominance columns of the acutely enucleated eye appear dark. This was verified by labelling the ocular dominance columns with [3H]proline. Dark-field illumination of the cortex after acute monocular enucleation offers a new, easy method for identifying the ocular dominance columns in macaques.


1995 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 589-603 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gary Blasdel ◽  
Klaus Obermayer ◽  
Lynne Kiorpes

AbstractPrevious work has shown that small, stimulus-dependent changes in light absorption can be used to monitor cortical activity, and to provide detailed maps of ocular dominance and optimal stimulus orientation in the striate cortex of adult macaque monkeys (Blasdel & Salama, 1986; Ts'o et al., 1990). We now extend this approach to infant animals, in which we find many of the organizational features described previously in adults, including patch-like linear zones, singularities, and fractures (Blasdel, 1992b), in animals as young as 3/12 weeks of age. Indeed, the similarities between infant and adult patterns are more compelling than expected. Patterns of ocular dominance and orientation, for example, show many of the correlations described previously in adults, including a tendency for orientation specificity to decrease in the centers of ocular dominance columns, and for iso-orientation contours to cross the borders of ocular dominance columns at angles of 90 deg. In spite of these similarities, there are differences, one of which entails the strength of ocular dominance signals, which appear weaker in the younger animals and which increase steadily with age. Another, more striking, difference concerns the widths of ocular dominance columns, which increase by 20% during the first 3 months of life. Since the cortical surface area increases by a comparable amount, during the same time, this 20% expansion implies that growth occurs anisotropically, perpendicular to the ocular dominance columns, as the cortical surface expands. Since the observed patterns of orientation preference expand more slowly, at approximately half this rate, these results also imply that ocular dominance and orientation patterns change their relationship, and may even drift past one another, as young animals mature.


1997 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 277-286 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard D. Lane ◽  
Dawn M. Allan ◽  
Carol A. Bennett-Clarke ◽  
David L. Howell ◽  
Robert W. Rhoades

AbstractImmunocytochemistry and retrograde labeling were used to define the thalamic projections of calbindin- and parvalbumin-containing cells in superficial layers of the rat's superior colliculus (SC). Quantitative analysis revealed that 90.8 ± 2.2% (mean ± standard deviation) of the calbindin-immunoreactive neurons in the stratum griseum superficiale (SGS) projected to the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus (LGNd) and that 91.3 ± 4.3% of calbindin-immunoreactive neurons in the stratum opticum (SO) projected to the lateral posterior nucleus (LP). In contrast, only 17.3 ± 2.5% of parvalbumin-immunoreactive neurons in the SGS were found to project to the LGNd and 16.5 ± 3.1% of the parvalbumin-immunoreactive SO cells were retrogradely labeled after LP injections. Few of the parvalbumin-immunoreactive neurons in either the SGS (7.2 ± 2.5%) or the SO (9.2 ± 2.5%) were GABA positive. The retrograde-labeling results suggest that parvalbumin-immunoreactive neurons in the rat's SO and SGS may either be primarily interneurons or have descending projections, while calbindin-containing cells are primarily thalamic projection neurons. These results are consistent with data from other rodents, but almost exactly the opposite of data that have been reported for the cat for these same populations of SC projection neurons. Such interspecies differences raise questions regarding the functional importance of expressing one calcium-binding protein versus another in a specific neuronal population.


1998 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 289-303 ◽  
Author(s):  
JONATHAN C. HORTON ◽  
DAVINA R. HOCKING

We examined cytochrome oxidase (CO) activity in striate cortex of four macaque monkeys after monocular enucleation at ages 1, 1, 5, and 12 weeks. These animal experiments were performed to guide our interpretation of CO patterns in occipital lobe specimens obtained from two children who died several years after monocular enucleation during infancy for tumor. In the macaques, the ocular dominance columns were labelled by injecting [3H]proline into the remaining eye. After enucleation at age 1 week, ocular dominance columns were eliminated in layer IVcβ, resulting in a uniform pattern of autoradiographic label and CO staining. However, columns could still be seen in wet, unstained sections and with the Liesegang silver stain. Autoradiographs through layers IVcα and IVa showed residual, shrunken columns belonging to the missing eye, indicating that enucleation has less drastic effects in these layers. In the two human cases, enucleation at age 1 week also resulted in uniform CO staining in layer IVc. In the macaque after enucleation at age 5 weeks, ocular dominance columns belonging to the missing eye were severely narrowed, but still occupied 20% of layer IVcβ. CO revealed wide, dark columns alternating with thin, pale columns in layer IVcβ. The CO pattern and the columns labelled by autoradiography matched perfectly. After enucleation at age 12 weeks, only mild shrinkage of ocular dominance columns occurred. Enucleation at ages 1, 5, and 12 weeks did not alter the pattern of thin-pale–thick-pale stripes in V2. The main findings from this study were that (1) CO histochemistry accurately labels the boundaries of columns in layer IVcβ of macaque striate cortex after early monocular enucleation, making it a suitable technique for defining the critical period for plasticity of ocular dominance columns in human striate cortex; (2) enucleation causes more severe shrinkage of ocular dominance columns than eyelid suture; (3) early monocular enucleation obliterates ocular dominance columns in layer IVcβ, but their pattern remains visible in wet sections and with the Liesegang stain; and (4) enucleation does not affect CO staining in V2.


1992 ◽  
Vol 8 (5) ◽  
pp. 449-462 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. L. Florence ◽  
J. H. Kaas

AbstractThe effects of monocular deprivation on cytochrome-oxidase (CO) expression were used to reveal ocular dominance columns in flatmounts of the striate cortex in macaque (Macaca fascicularis) and talapoin (Miopithecus talapoin) monkeys. This procedure allowed the first direct visualization of the complete pattern of ocular dominance bands in macaque monkeys, and less complete reconstructions in talapoin monkeys. In a second macaque monkey, the ocular dominance organization was revealed by injecting wheat germ agglutinin conjugated to horseradish peroxidase (WGA-HRP) into one eye.The organization of ocular dominance columns in the macaque monkeys conforms to previous descriptions, but the flat-mounted hemispheres provide accurate details on (1) the arrangement of columns, (2) the orientation of the representation of the optic disc, and (3) the breakdown of the bands in the cortex between the optic disc and monocular representations into a pattern of dots activated by the ipsilateral eye and larger surrounds related to the contralateral eye.Talapoin monkeys, the smallest of Old World monkeys, have sharply segregated ocular dominance bands. The columns in talapoins are narrower than those in macaques, so that even with less striate cortex than macaques, talapoins have more ocular dominance hypercolumns.


Toxics ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Ignacy Gonkowski ◽  
Slawomir Gonkowski ◽  
Ewa Dzika ◽  
Joanna Wojtkiewicz

Calbindin D-28k (CB) is a calcium-binding protein widely distributed in living organisms that may act as a calcium buffer and sensory protein. CB is present in the enteric nervous system (ENS) situated in the gastrointestinal tract, which controls the majority of activities of the stomach and intestine. The influence of various doses of bisphenol A (BPA)—a chemical compound widely used in plastics production—on the number and distribution of CB-positive enteric neuronal cells in the porcine caecum was investigated with an immunofluorescence technique. The obtained results showed that low dosages of BPA resulted in an increase in the number of CB-positive neuronal cells in the myenteric (MP) and inner submucous (ISP) plexuses, whereas it did not alter the number of such neuronal cells in the outer submucous plexus (OSP). High dosages of BPA caused the increase in the amount of CB-positive perikarya in all the above-mentioned kinds of the caecal neuronal plexuses. These observations strongly suggest that CB in the ENS participates in the processes connected with the toxic activity of BPA. Most likely, the changes noted in this experiment result from the adaptive and protective properties of CB.


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