Retinofugal and Retinopetal Projections in the Green Sunfish, <i>Lepomis cyanellus</i>

Abstract

The retinofugal and retinopetal connections in the green sunfish were studied by autoradiographic and horseradish peroxidase methods. All retinofugal fibers decussate in the optic chiasm. Some fibers project to contralateral preoptic and hypothalamic nuclei while others recross to project to the comparable ipsilateral nuclei. Contralaterally, the medial optic tract projects to the periventricular thalamic and pretectal nuclei and, sparsely, to the rostral optic tectum. The dorsal optic tract projects to the parvocellular portion of the superficial pretectal nucleus, the central pretectal nucleus, nucleus corticalis, and the rostral portion of the optic tectum. The ventral optic tract primarily projects to the caudal portion of the optic tectum, giving off fibers in route to innervate various nuclei, including the parvocellular superficial pretectal nucleus and the dorsal and ventral accessory optic nuclei. The axial optic tract projects to the dorsal accessory optic nucleus, the central pretectal nucleus, and the caudal optic tectum. Retinal fibers reach the ipsilateral thalamus, pretectum and other sites via a redecussation through the posterior commissure. From outgroup analysis it is concluded that such redecussating fibers are an independently derived character within actinopterygians and are homoplasous to nondecussating ipsilateral retinal projections in other vertebrates. Neurons retrogradely labeled with horseradish peroxidase were found to form a rostrocaudal column from the olfactory bulb and nerve through the ventral telencephalon to caudal diencephalic levels along the medial aspect of the optic tract. It is possible that all these neurons consist of one population of migrated ganglion cells of the nervus terminalis.