Retinofugal pathways from albino eyes embryonically transplanted to normal and albino axolotls.

Abstract

Albino axolotl eyes were transplanted embryonically to normal and albino axolotl hosts. The animals were allowed to mature for several months and then their transplanted eyes were injected with tritiated proline. The projections from these albino eyes were compared with those obtained from similar transplants of normally pigmented eyes. Special attention was paid to the crossed and uncrossed components of the projections. No differences were found between normal and albino transplants. These results indicate that abnormal retinofugal crossing, which results from a lack of pigmentation in the mammalian eye, does not occur in the axolotl even when the fraction of retinal cells projecting ipsilaterally is experimentally increased by transplanting supernumerary eyes into embryos.