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Formation of retinotopic connections: Selective stabilization by an activity-dependent mechanism

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Summary

  1. 1.

    During regeneration of the optic nerve in goldfish, the ingrowing retinal fibers successfully seek out their correct places in the overall retinotopic projection on the tectum. Chemospecific cell-surface interactions appear to be sufficient to organize only a crude retinotopic map on the tectum during regeneration.

  2. 2.

    Precise retinotopic ordering appears to be achieved via an activity-dependent stabilization of appropriate synapses and is based upon the correlated activity of neighboring ganglion cells of the same receptive-field type in the retina. Four treatments have been found to block the sharpening process: (a) blocking the activity of the ganglion cells with intraocular tetrodotoxin (TTX), (b) rearing in total darkness, (c) correlating the activation of all ganglion cells via stroboscopic illumination and (d) blocking retinotectal synaptic transmission withα-bungarotoxin (αBTX).

  3. 3.

    These experiments support a role for correlated visually driven activity in sharpening the diffuse projection and suggest that this correlated activity interacts within the postsynaptic cells, probably through the summation of excitatory postsynaptic potentials (EPSPs).

  4. 4.

    Other experiments support the concept that effective synapses are stabilized: a local postsynaptic block of transmission causes a local disruption in the retinotectal map. The changes that occur during this disruption suggest that each arbor can move to maximize its synaptic efficacy.

  5. 5.

    In development, initial retinotectal projections are often diffuse and may undergo a similar activity-dependent sharpening.

  6. 6.

    Indirect retinotectal maps, as well as auditory maps, appear to be brought into register with the direct retinotopic projections by promoting the convergence of contacts with correlated activity.

  7. 7.

    A similar mechanism may drive both the formation of ocular dominance patches in fish tectum and kitten visual cortex and the segregation of different receptive-field types in the lateral geniculate nucleus.

  8. 8.

    Activity-dependent synaptic stabilization may therefore be a general mechanism whereby the diffuse projections of early development are brought to the precise, mature level of organization.

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Abbreviations

TTX:

tetrodotoxin

HRP:

horseradish peroxidase

WGA:

wheat germ agglutinin

LGN:

lateral geniculate nucleus

αBTX:

α-bungarotoxin

EPSP:

excitatory postsynaptic potential>

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  1. Department of Biological Sciences and Neurobiology Research Center, State University of New York at Albany, 1400 Washington Avenue, 12222, Albany, New York, USA

    John T. Schmidt

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Schmidt, J.T. Formation of retinotopic connections: Selective stabilization by an activity-dependent mechanism. Cell Mol Neurobiol 5, 65–84 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00711086

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00711086

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