Retinal projection in a non-visual area after bilateral tectal ablation in goldfish.
If, in the adult goldfish, one optic tectum is ablated, the regenerating optic axons from the contralateral retina innervate the remaining tectum, where they form a retinotopically ordered map. The pathway for this induced ipsilateral projection coincides with many of the pathways which normally connect the two tecta, but early in regeneration the optic fibres also enter non-visual centres to which there are degenerating tectal efferent pathways to follow. We have therefore now investigated the fate of regenerating optic axons in goldfish from which both optic tecta have been removed; they are found to innervate non-visual centres, where again they generate a retinotopic map.
D000818:Animals; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006054:Goldfish; D009416:Nerve Regeneration; D009900:Optic Nerve / Q000502:physiology*; D013477:Superior Colliculi / Q000502:physiology; D014795:Visual Pathways / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*