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Visual receptive fields and response properties of neurons in human temporal lobe and visual pathways.

Recordings were made from depth electrodes placed in medial temporal and occipital lobes for the localization of seizure foci in patients with medically intractable psychomotor epilepsy. Electrodes were located in the amygdala and at three rostrocaudal levels of the hippocampal formation including the posterior hippocampal gyrus, which lies medial to the portion of the geniculostriate pathway which passes through the temporal lobe. 1. Approximately 10 per cent of single units recorded from microelectrodes chronically implanted in medial temporal sites were visually responsive. Some of the units in the posterior hippocampal gyrus displayed receptive field characteristics similar to those reported in lower primates, including circular or linear shape, monocular or binocular response, variable (1 to 10 deg) receptive field size, retinotopic organization and sustained or transient response. 2. Visually responsive units were also recorded from lateral geniculate nucleus, pulvinar nucleus and occipital cortex, and their basic response form and latencies compared with the short latency visually responsive cells in medial temporal lobe. 3. The heterogeneity of receptive field characteristics in the medial temporal lobe is consistent with the existence of more than one visual input to this region, while their retinotopic relationship differentiates these receptive fields from those of units studied in the inferior temporal lobe of lower primates. 4. Properties of visual pathways in this region are discussed in relation to several types of temporal lobe function and to memory. Recordings from these neurons offer a rare opportunity for comparison of central visual response properties and receptive field characteristics of humans with those reported in animal studies.

Adult

Our treatment philosophy of gliomas of the anterior visual pathways.

Therapeutic strategy and clinical course of 28 low grade gliomas of the anterior visual tract were analyzed and compared with results of quantitative microscopic examination. Children operated on between 1978 and 1987 were divided into four groups according to the tumor site. DNA microfluorometry and image analysis of bioptic material were used for an objective differentiation between morphologically almost identical gliomas classified as pilocytic astrocytomas (grade I). Six cases of posttraumatic gliosis were examined as controls. Results were tested with factor analysis and by multiple comparison procedures. Significant differences between quantitative parameters of tumors located along the visual pathway were found with the use of computer-aided microscopy. These results corresponded with the clinical experience and patient's outcome. A radical surgical intervention (without additional oncologic therapy) was recommended for patients with intraorbital gliomas which revealed favorable quantitative microscopic features.

Astrocytoma

2',3'-cyclic nucleotide 3'-phosphohydrolase activity in rat visual pathways with experimental allergic encephalomyelitis.

The enzyme 2',3'-cyclic nucleotide 3'-phosphohydrolase (CNPase) is one of the important markers for myelin synthesis or demyelination. We measured the CNPase activities in the visual pathway tissues of Lewis strain rats with experimental allergic encephalomyelitis (EAE) induced by inoculation of myelin basic protein from the brain. The enzyme activities in the retina, optic nerve, optic chiasma and lateral geniculate body were reduced to about 50-80% of that of controls at 15 days after myelin basic protein inoculation when symptoms of EAE were most severe. However, the activities recovered at 19 days except in the retina when the symptoms of EAE disappeared. Furthermore, the activities of the optic nerve and chiasma increased to a level higher than that of the controls at this time. By histopathological study, infiltration of inflammatory cells and focal demyelination were found in the optic nerve and lumbar spinal cord at 15 days after myelin basic protein inoculation. It was considered that the reduction of CNPase activity and its recovery and increase reflect demyelination and activation of oligodendroglia for remyelination, respectively.

2',3'-Cyclic Nucleotide 3'-Phosphodiesterase

Spread of vesicular stomatitis virus along the visual pathways after retinal infection in the mouse.

Vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) was injected into the left eyeball of 3-week-old mice and it infected the retinal ganglion cells. The infection spread rapidly along the visual pathways to the postsynaptic neurons in the contralateral superior collicle (SC) and lateral geniculate body (LGB). The distributional pattern of the viral immunoreactivity indicated an anterograde axonal transport of the infectious material. A subsequent spread to the ganglion cells of the right retina further indicated retrograde axonal VSV transport. Within the retina the infection spread from the ganglion cells to the pigment epithelium. Although a transneuronal spread of the VSV infection was observed, no VSV budding from or uptake in synaptic membranes was demonstrated ultrastructurally in the retina or the superior collicle. In the retina virions budded from the perikaryal and dendritic plasma membranes of the ganglion cells as well as from the nerve cell bodies of the inner and outer nuclear layers, but not from the receptor segments. In the superior collicle budding was also observed from the plasma membranes of nerve cell bodies and dendrites. In contrast, the intraocular injection of Sendai virus caused a limited retinal ganglion cell infection, with no further propagation in the retina or to the SC or LGB.

Animals

[Assessment of lesions in various sections of the visual pathway].

The suitability of ultrasonography, computer tomography and Octopus perimetry is illustrated with reference to an investigation carried out in 60 patients. First, the characteristic symptoms are described, depending on the localization of the lesion in the visual pathway. Then the advantages and disadvantages of the various examination methods are compared. In the orbita, echography is the most accurate method in the anterior segments, while the balance shifts increasingly in favor of CT toward the retrobulbar region. As far as intracranial tumors are concerned, there is good correlation between CT and VF findings in the case of sellar processes and pathologic changes of the midline and occipital lobe. In the frontotemporal region, on the other hand, VF defects are found in only one-half of the cases, while in the case of vascular lesions there is no apparent correlation between perimetry findings and the size of the lesion demonstrated on the computer tomogram. The importance of the Octopus for early recognition of such lesions is discussed.

Hemianopsia

Surgical and intensification procedures for defining visual pathways with cobaltous-lysine.

The introduction of heavy metals directly into living neuronal tissue has received little attention as a method for defining connections in the vertebrate nervous system. Procedures are described for the use of cobaltous-lysine to trace visual pathways with light microscopy. The success of the technique depends on a number of variables including: the method by which the tracer is applied, the survival period, and the method of intensification. Best results were obtained by soaking the optic nerve of living animals in the filling solution for 24 hr and by using a modification of the Timm's silver sulfide intensification procedure. Several factors that lead to poor results are discussed. Cobaltous-lysine is capable of both anterograde and retrograde labeling and can fill very sparse projections. Furthermore, the success of the fill can, at times, be evaluated prior to histology.

Animals

Delayed visual evoked potentials with bilateral disease of the posterior visual pathway.

A man of 51 years presented with sudden onset of a confusional state and marked visual deterioration. The computerised transaxial tomogram showed a mass in the corpus callosum which had spread to involve both cerebral hemispheres. The visual evoked potential to pattern stimulus was delayed by about 20 ms. Necropsy confirmed the presence of an astrocytoma of the corpus callosum involving the optic radiation and occipital cortex on both sides. The anterior visual pathway was normal.

Astrocytoma

Rapid decompression of anterior intracranial visual pathways with bromocriptine.

Bromocriptine mesylate (2-bromo-alpha-ergocryptine) has proved to be useful in reducing the size of prolactin-secreting pituitary adenomas, but little evidence has accumulated about its effectiveness within the first two weeks of therapy. The patient described herein showed a rapid reduction in the size of the suprasellar extension of a prolactinoma and a dramatic improvement of the primary visual field abnormalities within two weeks of starting bromocriptine therapy. This experience exemplifies the potential use of the drug in acutely decompressing the anterior intracranial visual pathways.

Adenoma

Separate visual pathways for perception and action.

Accumulating neuropsychological, electrophysiological and behavioural evidence suggests that the neural substrates of visual perception may be quite distinct from those underlying the visual control of actions. In other words, the set of object descriptions that permit identification and recognition may be computed independently of the set of descriptions that allow an observer to shape the hand appropriately to pick up an object. We propose that the ventral stream of projections from the striate cortex to the inferotemporal cortex plays the major role in the perceptual identification of objects, while the dorsal stream projecting from the striate cortex to the posterior parietal region mediates the required sensorimotor transformations for visually guided actions directed at such objects.

Animals

Organization of the tectofugal visual pathway in the pigeon: a retrograde transport study.

In birds, superficial laminae of the optic tectum receive a massive retinal input; the tectum in turn projects upon the nucleus rotundus thalami, which then sends its efferents to the ectostriatal core of the telencephalon. To examine the detailed organization of this principal ascending visual pathway, small injections of the marker horseradish peroxidase (HRP) were placed in various sites throughout the ectostriatum (E) or nucleus rotundus (Rt) in pigeons. Analysis of the resulting patterns of retrograde labeling indicates the tectofugal pathway to be comprised of at least five different channels. Cells which lie at various depths in the stratum griseum centrale (SGC) of the tectum project upon distinct subdivisions of nucleus rotundus. Anterior portions of Rt receive input from superficial-most cells in the SGC, while medial and more caudal portions of Rt are projected upon by deeper SGC neurons. A ventral subdivision of Rt was found to receive its primary input from two pretectal nuclei. Additional inputs to all portions of Rt arise from nucleus reticularis superior thalami. The various subdivisions of rotundus in turn project upon distinct portions of the ectostriatum. Thus, the segregation between the different input classes into Rt is largely retained at the telencephalic level. In contrast, the nucleus triangularis, a dorso-medial extension of Rt which receives its input from the deepest of all SGC neurons, sends its efferents to all parts of the ectostriatum.

Animals

The scale of the visual pathways of mouse and rat.

Photoreceptors and neurons at various levels to cortex have been counted in mouse and rat. The ratios of neuron numbers (rat/mouse) are similar to the ratio of retinal areas or the squared ratio of eye sizes; so to a first approximation the two species have linearly scaled eyes, equal photoreceptor spacings (in micron), and visual pathways scaled numerically by the number of photoreceptors. With supplementary data from the literature, some of the functional implications of the design can be evaluated level by level. Overall, there is structural and computational economy, or even parsimony.

Animals

Involvement of posterior visual pathways by optic nerve gliomas.

We describe the computed tomographic (CT) findings in seven children with optic nerve gliomas extending posterior to the chiasm. These tumors spread along the optic tracts and in five of seven cases, involved the lateral geniculate bodies and adjacent optic radiations. The propensity for these tumors to extend along both the anterior and posterior visual pathways aids in their diagnosis. An MR scan was obtained in one patient and identified an unexpected site of tumor extension as well as the mass seen by CT.

Child

The hemispheric dominance of cortical cells in the absence of direct visual pathways.

Unit recording was carried out in the visual cortex of split chiasm and optic tract-sectioned adult cats. From the proportions of the visually responsive and unresponsive cells found in each hemisphere of the operated cats it was concluded that the indirect pathway via the corpus callosum becomes visually inactive under these conditions. However, the direct geniculocortical pathway remains visually active. Thus, it was assumed that unilateral or bilateral elimination of the decussating pathway has a crucial effect on the amount of interhemispheric callosal transfer of basic visual functions.

Animals

High-pass resolution perimetry and age-related loss of visual pathway neurons.

The normal, age-related decline of results of high-pass resolution perimetry (HRP) predicts a loss of approximately 9,000 retino-cortical neural channels per year of age, or about 1 channel each hour. Previously published counts of numbers of neurons in the optic nerve indicate a loss of approximately 5,000 neurons per year. The HRP results can be accounted for by postulating that neurons are lost at the same rate also in the geniculo-striate visual pathway.

Adolescent

Two distinct visual pathways through the superficial pretectum in a percomorph teleost.

The connections of the superficial pretectum and of nucleus isthmi were examined in a percomorph teleost, Lepomis cyanellus. Horseradish peroxidase was injected either with a pin into the parvicellular nucleus of the superficial pretectum or pressure injected into nucleus isthmi; the isthmal injections retrogradely labelled the neurons of the magnocellular nucleus of the superficial pretectum. Two main visual pathways can be recognized: The first projects from the retina to the parvicellular nucleus, and then to the intermediate nucleus of the superficial pretectum, the inferior raphe nucleus, and the trochlear nucleus. The second projects from the retina via the optic tectum to the magnocellular nucleus of the superficial pretectum, and from there to nucleus isthmi and the lateral thalamic nucleus; nucleus isthmi and the lateral thalamic nucleus project back to the optic tectum, and nucleus isthmi also projects back to the magnocellular nucleus. The two pathways are interconnected to some extent because both nucleus isthmi and the optic tectum project to the parvicellular nucleus; nevertheless, we suggest that they may be functionally and evolutionarily distinct. Compared to percomorphs, the first pathway appears reduced in cyprinid teleosts such as goldfish. Furthermore, the magnocellular nucleus of the second pathway is completely different in cyprinids, both in cellular architecture and in efferent connections. A phylogenetic analysis suggests that cyprinid ancestors went through a period of reduced vision and that the magnocellular nucleus of the superficial pretectum in modern cyprinids has been either extensively modified from the primitive condition or lost entirely and replaced by a superficially similar structure.

Animals