title: A correlation between receptive field properties and morphological structures in the pretectum of the cat.
abstract: Retinal terminals in the pretectum were labelled by anterograde axonal transport of horseradish peroxidase (HRP) after injecting the enzyme into one eye. Pretectal neurons were retrogradely labelled by HRP-injections into the dorsal cap of the inferior olive. Electrophysiological recordings were performed in the same animal. This procedure showed that direction-selective neurons in the nucleus of the optic tract (NOT) projecting to the dorsal cap of the inferior olive lie dorsal and lateral to the retinal terminal clusters. Direction-unselective neurons sensitive to high stimulus velocities (jerk-neurons) were localized within the areas of retinal terminal clusters. Both jerk-neurons and retinal terminal clusters never overlapped with retrogradely labelled neurons. Latency measurements to stimulation of the optic chiasm (OX) confirmed a monosynaptic W-cell projection to the direction-selective NOT cells and indicated a predominantly monosynaptic Y-cell projection to the jerk-neurons.
mesh_terms: D000200:Action Potentials; D000818:Animals; D002415:Cats; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D004594:Electrophysiology; D006735:Horseradish Peroxidase; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D009897:Optic Chiasm / Q000502:physiology; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011930:Reaction Time; D012160:Retina / Q000166:cytology; D013477:Superior Colliculi / Q000166:cytology*; D014794:Visual Fields
chemical_list: D006735:Horseradish Peroxidase