Postnatal development of NADPH-diaphorase expression in the visual cortex of the golden hamster**

Abstract

Nitric oxide is an important neuromodulator in the brain and is involved in the development of visual system. But it is not clear how nitric oxide and nitric oxide synthase (NOS) are involved in the developing visual cortex of rodents. Thus we examined the expression of NOS activity in the postnatal developing visual cortex of the golden hamster by using histochemical technique for NADPH-diaphorase (NADPH-d). A heavily stained NADPH-d band was observed in the neuropil of the visual cortex. This NADPH-d band initially appeared in the cortical plate from the day of birth (P0) to postnatal day 4 (P4). From P7 to P21, this band was confined to area 17 and migrated to the deeper layers III-IV and V-VI before it eventually disappeared at P28. Such developmental trends of the band correlated well with the process of formation and establishment of the geniculo-cortical projection patterns. Thus, the areal specific development of the band suggests that NOS is closely related to the cortical differentiation and synaptic formation of the primary visual cortex. On the other hand, monocular eye enucleation on P1 could not alter the appearance of this NADPH-d positive band, indicating a non-activity dependant role of NOS. In addition, differences in the laminar distributions and developmental sequence between the heavily and lightly stained NADPH-d positive neurons during development suggest that they play different roles in the development.