title: Species-dependent variation in the dendritic stratification of apparently homologous retinal ganglion cell mosaics in two neoteleost fishes.
abstract: Large retinal ganglion cells of the marine neoteleost Bathymaster derjugini were labeled with horseradish peroxidase and studied in flatmounts. Four types formed regular, independent mosaics, of which three (biplexiform, alpha-a, alpha-c) resembled those in several other teleosts. The fourth (alpha-ab) appeared novel in one significant respect. Whereas we originally described similar cells in another neoteleost, Oreochromis spilurus, as monostratified in sublamina b of the inner plexiform layer, these were very clearly bistratified in a and b. Detailed re-analysis of our Oreochromis flatmounts showed that the difference is of one degree only: many Oreochromis cells do send fine dendrites into a. These observations strengthen the evidence that all four mosaics are homologous across a wide range of fishes, and clear away an obstacle to our earlier proposals that the alpha-a, alpha-ab and alpha-c mosaics of fishes, frogs, and perhaps other nonmammalian jawed vertebrates too, may all be homologous.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy and Developmental Biology, University College London, UK. j.cook@ucl.ac.uk
authors.forename: J E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Cook
authors.forename: T A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Podugolnikova
authors.forename: S L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Kondrashev
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002452:Cell Count; D048429:Cell Size; D003712:Dendrites / Q000648:ultrastructure; D005399:Fishes / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D012165:Retinal Ganglion Cells / Q000166:cytology*; D013045:Species Specificity