Topographic map formation and the effects of NMDA receptor blockade in the developing visual system.

ABSTRACT: The development of functional topography in the developing brain follows a progression from initially coarse to more precisely organized maps. To examine the emergence of topographically organized maps in the retinotectal system, we performed longitudinal visual receptive field mapping by calcium imaging in the optic tectum of GCaMP6-expressing transgenic Xenopus laevis tadpoles. At stage 42, just 1 d after retinal axons arrived in the optic tectum, a clear retinotopic azimuth map was evident. Animals were imaged over the following week at stages 45 and 48, over which time the tectal neuropil nearly doubled in length and exhibited more precise retinotopic organization. By microinjecting GCaMP6s messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) into one blastomere of two-cell stage embryos, we acqui

SUBMITTER: Li VJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8872792 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature