Retinocollicular synaptogenesis and synaptic transmission during formation of the visual map in the superior colliculus of the wallaby (Macropus eugenii).

Spontaneous retinal activity has been implicated in the development of the topographic map in the superior colliculus (SC) but a direct demonstration that it reaches the colliculus is lacking. Here we investigate when the retinocollicular projection is capable of transmitting information from the retina in a marsupial mammal, the wallaby (Macropus eugenii). The projection develops postnatally, allowing in vivo analysis throughout development. Quantification of retinocollicular synaptogenesis has been combined with electrophysiology of the development and characteristics of retinocollicular transmission, including in vivo and in vitro recording in the same animals. Prior to postnatal day (P) 12-14 in vitro recording detected only presynaptic activity in retinal axons in the colliculus, in response to stimulation of the optic nerve. Postsynaptic responses, comprising both N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) and non-NMDA responses, were first detected in vitro at P12-14 and retinal synapses were identified. In contrast, postsynaptic responses to optic nerve stimulation could not be detected in vivo until P39, around the time that retinal axons begin arborizing. Around this age density and numbers of total synapses began increasing in the retinorecipient layers of the colliculus. By P55-64, the numbers of retinal synapses had increased significantly and density and numbers of retinal and total synapses continued to increase up to P94-99. During this time the map is undergoing refinement and degenerating axons and synapses were present. The discrepancy between in vitro and in vivo onset of functional connections raises the question of when retinal activity reaches collicular cells in the intact, unanaesthetized animal and this will require investigation.

Orientation and spatiotemporal tuning of cells in the primary visual cortex of an Australian marsupial, the wallaby Macropus eugenii.

The metatherians (marsupials) have been separated from eutherians (placentals) for approximately 135 million years. It might, therefore, be expected that significant independent evolution of the visual system has occurred. The present paper describes for the first time the orientation, direction and spatiotemporal tuning of neurons in the primary visual cortex of an Australian marsupial, the wallaby Macropus eugenii. The stimuli consisted of spatial sinusoidal gratings presented within apertures covering the classical receptive fields of the cells. The neurons can be classified as those with clear ON and OFF zones and those with less well-defined receptive field structures. Seventy-percent of the total cells encountered were strongly orientation selective (tuning functions at half height were less than 45 degrees ). The preferred orientations were evenly distributed throughout 360 degrees for cells with uniform receptive fields but biased towards the vertical and horizontal for cells with clear ON-OFF zones. Many neurons gave directional responses but only a small percentage of them (4%) showed motion opponent properties (i.e. they were excited by motion in one direction and actively inhibited by motion in the opposite direction). The median peak temporal tuning for cells with clear ON-OFF zones and those without were 3 Hz and 6 Hz, respectively. The most common peak spatial frequency tuning for the two groups were 2 cycles per degree and 0.5 cycles per degree, respectively. Spatiotemporal tuning was not always the same for preferred and antipreferred direction motion. In general, the physiology of the wallaby cortex was similar to well studied eutherian mammals suggesting either convergent evolution or a highly conserved architecture that stems from a common therian ancestor.

Developmental onset of functional activity in the wallaby whisker cortex in response to stimulation of the infraorbital nerve.

This study used the extrauterine development of a marsupial wallaby to investigate the onset of functional activity in the somatosensory pathway from the whiskers. In vivo recordings were made from the somatosensory cortex from postnatal day (P) 55 to P138, in response to electrical stimulation of the infraorbital nerve supplying the mystacial whiskers. Current source density analysis was used to localize the responses within the cortical depth. This was correlated with development of cortical lamination and the onset of whisker-related patches, as revealed by cytochrome oxidase. The earliest evoked activity occurred at P61, when layers 5 and 6 are present, but layer 4 has not yet developed. This activity showed no polarity reversal with depth, suggesting activity in thalamocortical afferents. By P72 synaptic responses were detected in developing layer 4 and cytochrome oxidase showed the first hint of segregation into whisker-related patches. These patches were clear by P86. The evoked response at this age showed synaptic activity first in layer 4 and then in deep layer 5/upper layer 6. With maturity, responses became longer lasting with a complex sequence of synaptic activity at different cortical depths. The onset of functional activity is coincident with development of layer 4 and the onset of whisker-related pattern formation. A similar coincidence is seen in the rat, despite the markedly different chronological timetable, suggesting similar developmental mechanisms may operate in both species.

Temporal relationship between the auditory brainstem response and focal responses of auditory nerve root and cochlear nucleus during development in the tammar wallaby (Macropus eugenii).

Thirty-two pouch-young tammar wallabies were used to discover the generators of the auditory brainstem response (ABR) during development by the use of simultaneous ABR and focal brainstem recordings. A click response from the auditory nerve root (ANR) in the wallaby was recorded from postnatal day (PND) 101, when no central auditory station was functional, and coincided with the ABR, a simple positive wave. The response of the cochlear nucleus (CN) was detected from PND 110, when the ABR had developed 1 positive and 1 negative peak. The dominant component of the focal ANR response, the N1 wave, coincided with the first half of the ABR P wave, and that of the focal CN response, the N1 wave, coincided with the later two thirds. In older animals, the ANR response coincided with the ABR's N1 wave, while the CN response coincided with the ABR's P2, N2 and P3 waves, with its contribution to the ABR P2 dominant. The protracted development of the marsupial auditory system which facilitated these correlations makes the tammar wallaby a particularly suitable model.

Functional development of the inferior colliculus (IC) and its relationship with the auditory brainstem response (ABR) in the tammar wallaby (Macropus eugenii).

To discover the developmental relationship between the auditory brainstem response (ABR) and the focal inferior colliculus (IC) response, 32 young tammar wallabies were used, by the application of simultaneous ABR and focal brainstem recordings, in response to acoustic clicks and tone bursts of seven frequencies. The IC of the tammar wallaby undergoes a rapid functional development from postnatal day (PND) 114 to 160. The earliest (PND 114) auditory evoked response was recorded from the rostral IC. With development, more caudal parts of the IC became functional until age about PND 127, when all parts of the IC were responsive to sound. Along a dorsoventral direction, the duration of the IC response decreased, the peak latency shortened, while the amplitude increased, reaching a maximum value at the central IC, then decreased. After PND 160, the best frequency (BF) of the ventral IC was the highest, with values between 12.5 and 16 kHz, the BF of the dorsal IC was the lowest, varying between 3.2 and 6.4 kHz, while the BF of the central IC was between 6.4 and 12.5 kHz. Between PND 114 and 125, the IC response did not have temporal correlation with the ABR. Between PND 140 and 160, only the early components of the responses from the ventral and central IC correlated with the P4 waves of the ABR. After PND 160, responses recorded from different depths of the IC had a temporal correlation with the ABR.

Spectral sensitivity of photoreceptors in an Australian marsupial, the tammar wallaby (Macropus eugenii).

Microspectrophotometric measurements on the rod photoreceptors of the tammar wallaby showed that they have a peak absorbance at 501 nm. This indicates that macropod marsupials have a typical mammalian rhodopsin. An electroretinogram-based study of the photoreceptors confirmed this measurement and provided clear evidence for a single middle wavelength-sensitive cone pigment with a peak sensitivity at 539 nm. The electroretinogram did not reveal the presence of a short-wavelength-sensitive cone pigment as was expected from behavioural and anatomical data. Limitations of the electroretinogram in demonstrating the presence of photopigments are discussed in relation to similarly inconsistent results from other species.

Development of functional connections between thalamic fibres and the visual cortex of the wallaby revealed by current source density analysis in vivo.

Functional development of thalamic input to the cortex in anaesthetised wallaby pouch young between postnatal day 25 (P25) and P153 has been studied by electrical stimulation of the optic nerve, current source density (CSD) analysis, and histologic identification of recording sites. Conduction in the optic nerve was recorded prior to P39, by which time responses from the superior colliculus appeared. No evoked potential of cortical origin was recorded until P46, even though thalamic fibres grew into the cortical plate from P15. The first cortical synaptic responses were recorded at the margin of the subplate and the developing cortical plate, where cells that later comprise the adult layer 6 settle. At about P66, an additional short-latency, superficial response appeared, coinciding with the formation of layer 4. The deep response was retained in layer 6. Evoked activity in the presumed layer 4 was found progressively deeper in the cortex over the next few weeks, which would be expected from the addition of layer 3 above it. By P113, a new sink was added superficial in the cortex. Thalamocortical connections follow the same deep-to-superficial order in development as the cellular layers of the cortex.

A quadratic nonlinearity underlies direction selectivity in the nucleus of the optic tract.

A nonlinear interaction between signals from at least two spatially displaced receptors is a fundamental requirement for a direction-selective motion detector. This paper characterizes the nonlinear mechanism present in the motion detector pathway that provides the input to wide-field directional neurons in the nucleus of the optic tract of the wallaby, Macropus eugenii. An apparent motion stimulus is used to reveal the interactions that occur between adjacent regions of the receptive fields of the neurons. The interaction between neighboring areas of the field is a nonlinear facilitation that is accurately predicted by the outputs of an array of correlation-based motion detectors (Reichardt detectors). Based on the similarity between the output properties of the detector array and the real neurons, it is proposed that the interaction between neighboring regions of the receptive field is a second-order nonlinearity such as a multiplication. The results presented here for wallaby neurons are compared to data collected from directional systems in other species.

Marsupial retinocollicular system shows differential expression of messenger RNA encoding EphA receptors and their ligands during development.

The protracted development of the wallaby (Macropus eugenii) has allowed study of messenger RNAs encoding Eph receptors EphA3 and EphA7 and ligands ephrin-A2 and -A5 in the retina and superior colliculus at intervals throughout the development of the retinocollicular projection: from birth, before retinal innervation, to postnatal day 95, when the projection is mature. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction showed messenger RNAs for both receptors and ligands were expressed at all ages. EphA7 was expressed more highly in the rostral superior colliculus. Ephrin-A2 and -A5 were expressed more highly in the caudal colliculus. EphA3 was expressed in a complementary manner, more highly in temporal than in nasal retina. There are higher levels of expression of the ligands when the projection is only coarsely topographically organised. This suggests a role for them and their receptor EphA3 in this stage, by repulsive interactions which restrict temporal axons to rostral superior colliculus. This is the first account in a marsupial mammal of the appearance of this molecular family, substantiating its ubiquitous role in topographically organised neuronal connections. Nevertheless, expression is not the same as in the mouse, suggesting differences in the details of topographic coding between species.

Distribution of retinogeniculate cells in the tammar wallaby in relation to decussation at the optic chiasm.

Partial decussation of the optic nerve in mammals is related to the laterofrontal placement of the eyes. To investigate this relationship in the wallaby (Macropus eugenii), injections of wheat germ agglutinin-conjugated to horseradish peroxidase were made into one dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus to label retinal ganglion cell bodies in both retinas. Contralaterally, labelled ganglion cells were present across the nasotemporal axis, except for the far temporal retina where they were absent or very sparsely scattered compared with the density of labelled cells at similar nasal eccentricities in the same retinas. Ipsilaterally, labelling was confined to the temporal retina. Cell counts confirmed a visual streak and an area centralis in the contralateral projection. Diameters of labelled cells ranged from 9 microm to 30 microm with a hint of three categories of cells based on size. Only the large alpha-type cells were easily separated. Measurement of the acceptance angles of the eye in the anaesthetised animal showed about 15% of the horizontal visual field of each eye projects into a region of binocular overlap giving a binocular field of 50 degrees . The uniocular visual field extends from -25 degrees (nasally) to + 162 degrees (temporally) in azimuth, giving the wallaby a monocular visual field width of 187 degrees and a total visual field width of 324 degrees . In elevation, field ranges from 70 degrees inferior to +120 degrees superior, encompassing 190 degrees in the vertical plane. The wallaby shows partial decussation of optic nerve fibres projecting to the lateral geniculate nucleus that could allow stereopsis, plus an extensive panoramic field.

Visual acuity, contrast sensitivity and retinal magnification in a marsupial, the tammar wallaby (Macropus eugenii).

The visual acuity of the tammar wallaby was estimated using a behavioural discrimination task. The wallabies were trained to discriminate a high-contrast (86%) square-wave grating from a grey field of equal luminance (1000-6000 cd m-2). Visual-evoked cortical potentials were used to measure the complete contrast sensitivity function. The stimulus was a sinusoidal phase reversal of a sinusoidally modulated grating of various spatial frequencies and contrasts with a mean luminance of 40 cd m-2). The behavioural acuity was estimated to be about 4.8 cycles/deg. The contrast sensitivity peaked at about 0.15 cycles/deg and declined towards both lower and higher spatial frequencies. The cut-off frequency of the contrast sensitivity function is slightly lower than the behaviourally measured acuity at about 2.7 cycles/deg. The retinal magnification factor was estimated anatomically from laser lesions to be about 0.16 mm/deg. Based on the known ganglion cell density and the retinal magnification factor, an anatomical upper limit to visual acuity of about 6 cycles/deg can be calculated. The differences in estimates of visual acuity between the behavioural and anatomical methods on the one side and physiology on the other side are discussed.

Development of whisker-related patterns in marsupials: factors controlling timing.

In mature rodents, whisker-related patterns are known to be present in three levels of the brain: the brainstem trigeminal nuclei, the ventrobasal thalamus and the somatosensory cortex. These patterns have been demonstrated using neuroanatomical tracing techniques, histological and histochemical staining methods and electrophysiological recordings. The development and topography of these patterns are dependent on an intact periphery. But what governs when patterns form at the three levels? Possibilities include a controlling signal from the periphery or local mechanisms at each site, such as the arrival of afferent inputs or the maturation of target tissue. In this review, we report on the maturation of the whisker pathway in a marsupial, the wallaby, where the slow tempo of development is a feature. At each level, afferent fibres grow into the region of termination many weeks before the whisker-related pattern emerges. The results suggest that the maturity of the target tissue as well as signals from the periphery combine to trigger pattern formation at each level of the pathway.

Adaptation to visual motion in directional neurons of the nucleus of the optic tract.

Extracellular recordings of action potentials were made from directional neurons in the nucleus of the optic tract (NOT) of the wallaby, Macropus eugenii, while stimulating with moving sine-wave gratings. When a grating was moved at a constant velocity in the preferred direction through a neuron's receptive field, the firing rate increased rapidly and then declined exponentially until reaching a steady-state level. The decline in response is called motion adaptation. The rate of adaptation increased as the temporal frequency of the drifting grating increased, up to the frequency that elicited the maximum firing rate. Beyond this frequency, the adaptation rate decreased. When the adapting grating's spatial frequency was varied, such that response magnitudes were significantly different, the maximum adaptation rate occurred at similar temporal frequencies. Hence the temporal frequency of the stimulus is a major parameter controlling the rate of adaptation. In most neurons, the temporal frequency response functions measured after adaptation were shifted to the right when compared with those obtained in the unadapted state. Further insight into the adaptation process was obtained by measuring the responses of the cells to grating displacements within one frame (10.23 ms). Such impulsive stimulus movements of less than a one-quarter cycle elicited a response that rose rapidly to a maximum and then declined exponentially to the spontaneous firing rate in several seconds. The level of adaptation was demonstrated by observing how the time constants of the exponentials varied as a function of the temporal frequency of a previously presented moving grating. When plotted as functions of adapting frequency, time constants formed a U-shaped curve. The shortest time constants occurred at similar temporal frequencies, regardless of changes in spatial frequency, even when the change in spatial frequency resulted in large differences in response magnitude during the adaptation period. The strongest adaptation occurred when the adapting stimulus moved in the neuron's preferred direction. Stimuli that moved in the antipreferred direction or flickered had an adapting influence on the responses to subsequent impulsive movements, but the effect was far smaller than that elicited by preferred direction adaptation. Adaptation in one region of the receptive field did not affect the responses elicited by subsequent stimulation in nonoverlapping regions of the field. Adaptation is a significant property of NOT neurons and probably acts to expand their temporal resolving power.

Conduction and synaptic transmission in the optic nerve and the superior colliculus during development of the retinocollicular projection in the wallaby (Macropus eugenii).

When do the developing connections between mammalian retinal ganglion cells and the superior colliculus become functional? Evoked potentials elicited by optic nerve stimulation in the pouch young of the wallaby were used to answer the question. Up to 42 days after birth, the evoked potentials in the colliculus appeared to be generated by axon conduction. Synaptic activity was first recorded from the rostral colliculus at 45 days, and was found to be progressively more caudal, spreading to cover the colliculus, by 65 days. From the earliest indication of synaptic activity until eye opening at 140 days, current source density (CSD) analysis consistently showed the same basic pattern: an initial deep sink from synaptic activity of fast (Y type) fibres, and a more superficial longer-latency sink from slower (W type) fibres. All features became more clearly delineated with age. The indirect retinocorticocollicular connection appeared between 134 days and 146 days. The ability of optic nerve fibres to sustain action potentials precedes their formation of functional synapses with collicular neurons, which happens abruptly at three months before eye opening. CSD analysis showed that the relationship between the conduction velocity of optic nerve fibres and their depth of termination is evident from the first signs of synapse formation.

Impulse responses distinguish two classes of directional motion-sensitive neurons in the nucleus of the optic tract.

1. Recordings were made from direction-selective neurons in the nucleus of the optic tract (NOT) and dorsal terminal nucleus (DTN) of the wallaby, Macropus eugenii. Responses were elicited in the cells by brief displacements of a wide-field sine wave grating pattern in their preferred and antipreferred directions. The grating pattern was moved by a quarter cycle or less during the experiments. Once the stimulus duration was less than a certain value, referred to as the integration time, the magnitude of the responses depended on the size of the displacement, regardless of the velocity of the movement. The responses elicited by movements of the image in less than the integration times are referred to as velocity impulse responses. 2. The NOT-DTN contains two kinds of direction-selective neurons. The cells of the first type were maximally sensitive to patterns moving at low velocities (slow cells). These neurons had integration times of 40-80 ms. The cells of the second type were most sensitive to stimulus movements at high velocities (fast cells) and had integration times of 20-40 ms. 3. The velocity impulse responses of the slow cells were characterized by a rapid increase in firing rate followed by a slow exponential decline over a period of 1-4 s back to their resting activities. The impulse responses of the fast cells showed a rapid increase in firing rate followed by a short-lived inhibition of the background activity. 4. When the duration of the moving stimulus was longer than the integration times of the cells, they began to resolve the time course of the stimulus velocity. Under these conditions the slow cells showed a slow rise in firing rate during stimulation and a slow, exponential decay in firing after the stimulus came to rest. The fast cells showed a rapid increase in firing rate followed by a slow decay during the period of motion and then a short-lived inhibitory phase after the motion stopped. 5. The responses to rectangular pulses of stimulus velocity could be predicted for both cell types by convolving the velocity impulse responses of the cells with the velocity profile of the stimulus. Thus the cells responded linearly to image displacement in the sense that their responses to the velocity pulses could be described as the sum of a set of velocity impulse responses each weighted by the instantaneous stimulus strength, the latter being governed by the size of the image displacement. 6. Given the demonstration of linearity with respect to image displacement as the input, the Fourier transforms of the impulse responses were calculated to reveal the temporal filtering characteristics of the neurons. The slow cells had low-pass characteristics, the main power in the responses being at frequencies below 5-10 Hz. The fast cells had band-pass temporal filtering properties, the optimum pass band being at 6-12 Hz. 7. The filtering properties of the two cell types complement each other such that the optokinetic system as a whole is able to operate accurately over a wide frequency range.

Neural and behavioral effects of early eye rotation on the optokinetic system in the wallaby, Macropus eugenii.

1. Total optokinetic responses measured by electro-oculography and single unit recordings from the nucleus of the optic tract and dorsal terminal nucleus (NOT-DTN) of the accessory optic system were taken from young adult wallabies, whose one eye had been rotated about the optic axis at birth, and were compared with those from normal controls. 2. The velocities of the horizontal component of the slow phases of optokinetic nystagmus were measured in the horizontal plane as a function of the direction of stimulus motion. In normal animals the overall gain during monocular stimulation was greatest for horizontal temporonasal movement, with a lesser response to movement in the opposite, nasotemporal, direction. Upward or downward vertical stimulus motion did not elicit horizontal responses. In animals where one eye was removed at birth and the other eye was normal, the characteristic bidirectional response was retained; the response was identical with that elicited from one eye of a normal animal. 3. After surgical rotation (extorsion) of the left eye by approximately 90 degrees on or within a few days of birth, the animals were grown to adulthood. The visual streak of the retina of the operated eye was then found, in individual cases, to be between 30-100 degrees from horizontal with the head held in the standard resting position. This angle was taken as the definitive degree of cyclotorsion resulting from the operation in each animal. The extraocular muscles connected with regions of the eye adjacent to the location of their outgrowth in the orbit and not with the normal point of attachment on the globe.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Neural responses to free-field auditory stimulation in the superior colliculus of the wallaby (Macropus eugenii).

Auditory responses to free-field broad band stimulation from different directions were recorded from clusters of neurones in the superior colliculus (SC) of the anaesthetized tammar wallaby. The auditory responses were found approximately 2 mm beneath the first recording of visually evoked responses in the superficial layers, the vast majority being solely auditory in nature; only one recording responded to both auditory and visual stimulation. Responses to suprathreshold intensities displayed sharp spatial tuning to sound in the contralateral hemifield. Those from the rostral pole of the SC disclosed a preference for auditory stimuli in the azimuthal anterior field, whereas those in the caudal SC preferentially responded to sounds in the posterior field. A continuum of directionally tuned responses was seen along the rostrocaudal axis of the SC so that the entire azimuthal contralateral auditory hemifield was represented in the SC. Furthermore, tight spatial alignment was evident between the best position of the visual responses in the superficial layers in azimuth and the peak angle of the auditory response in the deeper layers.

Spatiotemporal response properties of direction-selective neurons in the nucleus of the optic tract and dorsal terminal nucleus of the wallaby, Macropus eugenii.

1. The spatial and temporal response characteristics of direction-selective neurons in the nucleus of the optic tract and dorsal terminal nucleus of the accessory optic system (NOT-DTN) of the wallaby were established using moving sinusoidal gratings. This is the first comprehensive investigation of the spatiotemporal response characteristics of NOT-DTN neurons in any species. 2. The analysis revealed two main classes of cells. The first class, referred to as slow neurons, are maximally sensitive to motion at low temporal frequencies (< 1 Hz) and high spatial frequencies (0.5-1.0 cpd). The second class, referred to as fast neurons, are most sensitive to motion at high temporal frequencies (> 10 Hz) and moderate to low spatial frequencies (0.1-0.5 cpd). The fast neurons also have a domain of high sensitivity at low temporal frequencies and high spatial frequencies. As the neurons are tuned to specific temporal frequencies of motion, rather than image velocities, it is suggested that the motion detectors are of the delay-and-compare type and code local motion-related changes in contrast or luminance. 3. Both classes of neuron are highly direction-selective in the midranges of their spatiotemporal tuning curves, i.e., the firing rates increase during motion in the preferred direction (temporonasal movement through the visual field of the contralateral eye) and decrease during motion in the opposite direction. At high temporal and low spatial frequencies, however, the slow neurons are inhibited by motion in both directions along their preferred axis. It is argued that this bidirectional inhibition at high speeds may act to inhibit ocular following during saccades and may act as a gain control mechanism preventing excessive overshoot in eye velocity at motion onset, when retinal-slip velocities are high. 4. The fast neurons probably have two functions. First, they are suited to initiating ocular following responses when image motion is quite fast. Second, their spatiotemporal tuning makes them candidates for supplying a velocity error signal into the velocity storage mechanism, which is most prominent at high stimulus speeds. 5. Fourier analysis of the peristimulus time histograms derived from the response of both the slow and fast neurons revealed that the main frequency components of the responses occurred at the fundamental and second harmonic frequencies of the input signal at low stimulus temporal frequencies (< 3.04 Hz). At higher stimulus frequencies, the responses contained significant frequency components at higher odd-harmonics of the input signal.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Wide-field nondirectional visual units in the pretectum: do they suppress ocular following of saccade-induced visual stimulation.

1. Direction-selective neurons in the nucleus of the optic tract (NOT) provide motion signals for controlling ocular following responses. When stimulated at low temporal and high spatial frequencies of motion (slow speeds), these retinal-slip neurons produce directional responses. When stimulated by motion at high temporal and low spatial frequencies (the visual conditions during saccades) the spontaneous activities of the neurons are inhibited by motion in all directions. A second class of neurons in, or near, the NOT have large receptive fields, are nondirectional, and are tuned to detect the same spatial and temporal stimuli that induce nondirectional inhibition in the retinal-slip neurons. We suggest that the nondirectional cells provide an inhibitory input for the retinal-slip neurons and therefore prevent ocular following of the visual displacements that accompany saccades.

Avian telencephalon and body weight.

The neurological mechanisms associated with weight gain in animals have been extensively studied in mammals, but relatively little investigation has been carried out in birds. As in mammals, it has been shown that lesion of the ventromedial nucleus of the hypothalamus leads to hyperphagia and obesity in several species of birds. Likewise, bilateral lesions of the lateral hypothalamus result in aphagia and weight loss. Therefore, at the level of the hypothalamus, control of body weight appears to be controlled by similar neurological mechanisms in all homeothermic species via modulation of the sympathetic nervous system. Because of the role of the mammalian striatum in body weight regulation, body weight data from various manipulative studies in chickens were analyzed to see if these areas play a role in avian body weight regulation. In the first study, cycloheximide, glutamate, or saline was injected intracerebrally into 1-day-old chicks. In the second study, 3-day-old chicks received surgical ablation of the neocortex or kainic acid-induced lesions of the paleostriatum. Decreased body weight was noted in chicks that received injections of cycloheximide or glutamate, or kainic acid-induced lesions. The disruption in body weight in Experiment 1 might have been due to neurochemical pathology thought to occur in the paleostriatum. In the second experiment, lesions of the neostriatum or hyperstriatum, analogous to the neocortex in mammals, did not produce a difference in weight gain compared to controls. This preliminary work with kainic acid lesions in the chicken paleostriatum demonstrates a significant long-term decrease in body weight. As in mammals, the basal ganglia may have a role in body weight regulation.