[The morphogenesis of Wulst neurons in the pied flycatcher under conditions of limited afferent inflow].
Golgi preparations of the pied flycatcher Wulst region (the structure analogous to the mammalian visual cortex) were analyzed using the method of computerized morphometry, to study the influence of visual deprivation on the development of different types of neurons selected previously. Deprivation was accomplished by covering the young's eye with nontransparent caps. The experiments were carried out in 10-day-old nestlings (the onset of patterned vision) and 13-day-old nestlings (functioning patterned vision). In 10-day-old nestlings, the deprivation produced constructive changes in dendritic apparatus of projective stellate cells (among them, the most pronounced was more than three-fold increase in the number of foci of maximal branching) practically not affecting the small stellate-like cells. In 13-day-old nestlings, cells belonging to all selected cell types underwent destructive changes: their quantitative characteristics were decreased as compared to those in control nestlings. A large number of tree-like neurons were revealed in the Wulst in the deprived 10-day-old nestlings while in the control age-matched nestlings they were virtually never found. This phenomenon may be explained by the increased affinity to impregnation evoked by deprivation-induced biochemical changes in the tree-like neurons or to increase in their number. In the latter case, the phenomenon may be considered as compensatory, directed at the establishing of contacts with nonvisual afferents.
Korneeva
E V
EV
Institute of Higher Nervous Activity and Neurophysiology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow.
Shuleĭkina
K V
KV
D000344:Afferent Pathways / Q000196:embryology / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D001717:Birds / Q000196:embryology / Q000502:physiology*; D009024:Morphogenesis / Q000502:physiology; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D012683:Sensory Deprivation / Q000502:physiology; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D014785:Vision, Ocular / Q000502:physiology; D014793:Visual Cortex / Q000196:embryology / Q000502:physiology*
Morfogenez neĭronov Wulst mukholovki-pestrushki v usloviiakh ogranicheniia afferentnogo pritoka.