Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Shortage of binocular cells in area 17 of visual cortex in cats with congenital strabismus

  • Published:
Experimental Brain Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Summary

Twenty-nine pigmented offspring of an innately esotropic female cat exhibited varying deficits in the number of binocular cells recorded in area 17 of the visual cortex as compared to 12 normal cats. Misalignment of the two eyes in these cats was found in the awake as well as in the paralysed state. Pupillography combined with measurements of visual disparity yielded abnormal esotropia of up to 8.4° under paralysis, which corresponds to an abnormal convergence of the freely moving eyes of up to 14° (average 7.4°). In the majority of animals cortical binocularity was found reduced by the two eyes controlling independent sets of separate units (U-shaped ocular dominance distribution) whereas in 7 cats the reduction was due to a partial loss of one eye's influence. The proportion of monocular units correlated with the degree of crossover of the visual axes (r = 0.73). Anatomical investigation of the retinofugal projections revealed normal appearance in three previously recorded cats in which more than 50% of cortical units had been monocularly driven. The small angles of esotropia and the “normal” appearance of eye position judged by the pupillary positions in the orbit of these cats, might suggest that we found an animal model for microstrabismus.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Albus K (1975) Predominance of monocularly driven cells in the projection area of the central visual field of the cat's striate cortex. Brain Res 89: 341–347

    Google Scholar 

  • Albus K (1979) 14C-deoxyglucose mapping of orientation subunits in the cat visual cortical areas. Exp Brain Res 3: 609–613

    Google Scholar 

  • Anderson PA, Olavarria J, van Sluyters RC (1983) The pattern of ocular dominance columns in area 17 and 18 of normal and visually deprived cats as revealed in tangential sections of the unfolded cortex. Abstr Soc Neurosci 9: 910

    Google Scholar 

  • Bennett MJ, Smith III EL, Harwerth RS, Crawford MLJ (1980) Ocular dominance, eye alignment and visual acuity in kittens reared with an optically induced squint. Brain Res 193: 33–45

    Google Scholar 

  • Berman N, Murphy EH (1982) The critical period for alteration in cortical binocularity resulting from divergent and convergent strabismus. Dev Brain Res 2: 181–202

    Google Scholar 

  • Berman N, Payne BR, Labar DR, Murphy EH (1982) Functional organization of neurons in cat striate cortex: variations in ocular dominance and receptive field type with cortical laminae and location in visual field. J Neurophysiol 48: 1362–1377

    Google Scholar 

  • Bishop PO, Kozak W, Vakkur GJ (1962) Some quantitative aspects of the cat's eye: axis and plane of reference, visualfield coordinates and optics. J Physiol (Lond) 163: 466–502

    Google Scholar 

  • Blakemore C, Eggers HM (1978) Effects of artificial anisometropia and strabismus on the kittens visual cortex. Arch Ital Biol 116: 385–389

    Google Scholar 

  • Blakemore C, Pettigrew JD (1970) Eye dominance in the visual cortex. Nature 225: 426–429

    Google Scholar 

  • Blakemore C, Van Sluyters RC (1975) Innate and environmental factors in the development of the kitten's visual cortex. J Physiol (Lond) 257: 663–716

    Google Scholar 

  • Bruce CJ, Isley MR, Shinkman PG (1981) Visual experience and development of interocular orientation disparity in visual cortex. J Neurophysiol 46: 215–228

    Google Scholar 

  • Buckley EG, Seaber JH (1982) The incidence of strabismic amblyopia. Invest Ophthal ARVO Spr Abs Suppl: 162

  • Buisseret P, Maffei L (1977) Extraocular projection properties to the visual cortex. Exp Brain Res 28: 421–425

    Google Scholar 

  • Buisseret P, Singer W (1983) Proprioceptive signals from extraocular muscles gate experience-dependent modifications of receptive fields in the kitten visual cortex. Exp Brain Res 51: 443–450

    Google Scholar 

  • Cooper ML, Pettigrew JD (1979) A neurophysiological determination of the vertical horopter in the cat and owl. J Comp Neurol 184: 1–26

    Google Scholar 

  • Chino YM, Shansky MS, Jankowski WL, Banser FA (1983) Effects of rearing kittens with convergent strabismus on development of receptive-field properties in striate cortex neurons. J Neurophysiol 50: 265–286

    Google Scholar 

  • Cynader M (1979a) Interocular alignment following visual deprivation in the cat. Invest Ophthalmol 18: 726–741

    Google Scholar 

  • Cynader M (1979b) Role of visual cortex in interocular alignment. Invest Ophthalmol 18: 742–751

    Google Scholar 

  • Elberger AJ (1979) The role of the corpus callosum in the development of interocular alignment and the organization of the visual field in the cat. Exp Brain Res 36: 71–85

    Google Scholar 

  • Elberger AJ (1981) Ocular dominance in the striate cortex is altered by neonatal section of the posterior corpus callosum in the cat. Exp Brain Res 41: 280–291

    Google Scholar 

  • Elberger AJ, Hirsch HVB (1982) Divergent strabismus following neonatal callosal section is due to a failure of convergence. Brain Res 239: 275–278

    Google Scholar 

  • Elberger AJ, Smith EL, White JM (1983) Optically induced strabismus results in visual field losses in cats. Brain Res 268: 147–152

    Google Scholar 

  • Freeman RD, Sclar G, Ohzawa I (1982) Cortical binocularity is disrupted by strabismus more slowly than by monocular deprivation. Dev Brain Res 3: 311–316

    Google Scholar 

  • Freeman RD, Sclar G, Ohzawa I (1983) An electrophysiological comparison of convergent and divergent strabismus in the cat: Visual evoked potentials. J Neurophysiol 49: 227–237

    Google Scholar 

  • Freeman RD, Tsumoto T (1983) An electrophysiological comparison of convergent and divergent strabismus in the cat: Electrical and visual activation of single cortical cells. JNeurophysiol 49: 238–249

    Google Scholar 

  • Gruenau MW von, Rauschecker JP (1983) Natural strabismus in non-siamese cats: lack of binocularity in the striate cortex. Exp Brain Res 52: 307–310

    Google Scholar 

  • Guillery RW (1969) An abnormal retinogeniculate projection in Siamese cats. Brain Res 14: 739–741

    Google Scholar 

  • Guillery RW (1971) An abnormal retinogeniculate projection in the albino ferret (Mustek furo). Brain Res 33: 482–485

    Google Scholar 

  • Guillery RW, Hickey P, Spear P (1981) Abnormal visual pathways in blue-eyed white cats. Inv Ophthalmol Vis Sci 21: 34–38

    Google Scholar 

  • Guillery RW, Kaas JH (1971) A study of normal and congenitally abnormal retinogeniculate projections in cats. J Comp Neurol 143: 73–100

    Google Scholar 

  • Guillery RW, Kaas JH (1973) Genetic abnormality of visual pathways in a “white” tiger. Science 180: 1287–1289

    Google Scholar 

  • Guillery RW, Oberdorfer MD, Murphy EH (1979) Abnormal retino-geniculate and retino-cortical pathways in several genetically distinct color phases of the mink (Mustela vison). J Comp Neurol 185: 623–656

    Google Scholar 

  • Hirsch HVB, Leventhal AG (1983) Effects of monocular deprivaion upon the binocularity of cells in area 18 of cat visual cortex. Dev Brain Res 8: 140–144

    Google Scholar 

  • Hoffmann K-P, Ballas I, Wagner H-J (1984) Double labelling of retinofugal projections in the cat: A study using anterograde transport of 3H-Proline and horseradish peroxidase. Exp Brain Res 53: 420–430

    Google Scholar 

  • Hoffmann K-P, Schoppmann A (1981) A quantitative analysis of the direction-specific response of neurons on the cat's nucleus of the optic tract. Exp Brain Res 42: 146–157

    Google Scholar 

  • Hoffmann K-P, Sherman MS (1972) Effects of early monocular deprivation on visual input to cat superior colliculus. J Neurophysiol 37: 1276–1286

    Google Scholar 

  • Holopigian KS, Blake R (1982) Evidence for reduced spatial vision in both eyes of strabismic cats. Invest Ophthal ARVO Spr Abs Suppl: 160

  • Hubel DH, Wiesel TN (1962) Receptive fields, binocular interaction and functional architecture in the cat's visual cortex. J Physiol (Lond) 160: 106–154

    Google Scholar 

  • Hubel DH, Wiesel TN (1963a) Shape and arrangement of columns in cat's striate cortex. J Physiol (Lond) 165: 559–568

    Google Scholar 

  • Hubel DH, Wiesel TN (1965a) Receptive fields and functional architecture in two nonstriate visual areas (18 and 19) of the cat. J Neurophysiol 28: 229–289

    Google Scholar 

  • Hubel DH, Wiesel TN (1965b) Binocular interaction in striate cortex of kittens reared with artificial squint. J Neurophysiol 28: 1041–1059

    Google Scholar 

  • Hubel DH, Wiesel TN (1971) Aberrant visual projections in the Siamese cat. J Physiol (Lond) 218: 33–62

    Google Scholar 

  • Hubel DH, Wiesel TN (1974) Sequence regularity and geometry of orientation columns in the monkey striate cortex. J Comp Neurol 158: 267–294

    Google Scholar 

  • Hubel DH, Wiesel TN, Stryker MP (1978) Anatomical demonstration of orientation columns in macaque monkey. J Comp Neurol 177: 361–380

    Google Scholar 

  • Ikeda H, Wright MJ (1974) Is amblyopia due to inappropriate stimulation of the “sustained” pathway during development? Br J Ophthalmol 58: 165–175

    Google Scholar 

  • Innocenti GM, Frost DO (1979) Effects of visual experience on the maturation of the efferent system to the corpus callosum. Nature 280: 231–233

    Google Scholar 

  • Innocenti GM, Frost DO (1980) The postnatal development of visual callosal connections in the absence of visual experience of the eyes. Exp Brain Res 39: 365–375

    Google Scholar 

  • Joshua DE, Bishop PO (1970) Binocular single vision and depth discrimination. Receptive field disparities for central and peripheral vision and binocular interaction on peripheral single units in cat striate cortex. Exp Brain Res 10: 389–417

    Google Scholar 

  • Kalil RE, Jharvi SR, Richards W (1971) Anomalous retinal pathways in the Siamese cat: an inadequate substrate for normal binocular vision. Science 174: 303–305

    Google Scholar 

  • Kalil RE, Spear PD, Langsemoto A (1978) Response properties of striate cortex neurons in cats raised with divergent or convergent strabismus. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 17 ARVO Suppl: 269

  • Lang J (1969) Microtropia. Arch Ophthal 81: 757–762

    Google Scholar 

  • LaVail JH, Nixon RA, Sidman RL (1978) Genetic control of retinal ganglion cell projections. J Comp Neurol 182: 399–422

    Google Scholar 

  • Levick WR, Thibos LN, Morstyn R (1980) Retinal ganglion cells and optic decussation of white cats. Vision Res 20: 1001

    Google Scholar 

  • Levitt FB, Van Sluyters RC (1982) The sensitive period for strabismus in the kitten. Dev Brain Res 3: 323–327

    Google Scholar 

  • Levy J (1969) Physiological position of rest and phoria. Am J Ophthal 68: 706–713

    Google Scholar 

  • Lund RD, Mitchell DE (1979) Asymmetry in the visual callosal connections of strabismic cats. Brain Res 167: 176–179

    Google Scholar 

  • Lund RD, Mitchell DE, Henry GH (1978) Squint-induced modification of callosal connections in cats. Brain Res 144: 169–172

    Google Scholar 

  • Maffei L, Fiorentini A (1976) Asymmetry of motility of the eyes and change of binocular properties of cortical cells in adult cats. Brain Res 105: 73–78

    Google Scholar 

  • Maffei L, Fiorentini A (1977) Oculomotor proprioception in the cat. In: Baker R, Berthoz A (eds) Control of gaze by brain stem neurons. Developments in Neuroscience, Vol 1. Amsterdam, Elsevier/North Holland Biomedical Press, pp 477–481

    Google Scholar 

  • Nelson JI, Kato H, Bishop PO (1977) Discrimination of orientation and position disparities by binocularly activated neurons in cat striate cortex. J Neurophysiol 40: 260–283

    Google Scholar 

  • Nikara T, Bishop PO, Pettigrew JD (1968) Analysis of retinal correspondence by studying receptive fields of binocular units in cat's striate cortex. Exp Brain Res 6: 353–372

    Google Scholar 

  • Olson CR, Freeman RD (1978a) Development of eye alignment in cats. Nature 271: 446–447

    Google Scholar 

  • Olson CR, Freeman RD (1978b) Eye alignment in kittens. J Neurophysiol 41: 848–859

    Google Scholar 

  • Payne BR, Berman N, Murphy EH (1981) A quantitative assessment of eye alignment in cats after corpus callosum transection. Exp Brain Res 43: 371–376

    Google Scholar 

  • Payne BR, Elberger AJ, Berman N, Murphy EH (1980) Binocularity in the cat visual cortex is reduced by sectioning the corpus callosum. Science 207: 1097–1099

    Google Scholar 

  • Rose D, Blakemore C (1974) An analysis of orientation selectivity in the cat's visual cortex. Exp Brain Res 20: 1–17

    Google Scholar 

  • Sanderson KJ (1972) Does rolling of the eye occur in the anesthetized paralysed cat? Vision Res 12: 1045–1050

    Google Scholar 

  • Sanderson KJ, Guillery RW, Shackelford RM (1974) Congenitally abnormal visual pathways in mink (Mustela vison) with reduced retinal pigment. J Comp Neurol 154: 225–248

    Google Scholar 

  • Schoppmann A, Hoffmann K-P (1976) Continuous mapping of direction selectivity in the cat's visual cortex. Neurosci Lett 2: 177–181

    Google Scholar 

  • Schoppmann A, Stryker MP (1981) Physiological evidence that the 2-deoxyglucose method reveals orientation columns in cat visual cortex. Nature 293: 574–576

    Google Scholar 

  • Shatz CJ (1977) Abnormal interhemispheric connections in the visual system of Boston Siamese cats. A physiological study. J Comp Neurol 171: 229–246

    Google Scholar 

  • Shatz CJ (1979) Anatomy of interhemispheric connections in the visual system of Boston Siamese and ordinary cats. J Comp Neurol 173: 490–518

    Google Scholar 

  • Sherman SM (1972) Development of interocular alignment in cats. Brain Res 37: 187–203

    Google Scholar 

  • Silver J, Sapiro J (1980) The role of pigmented epithelia during morphogenesis of the optic nerve. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci ARVO Suppl: 3

  • Singer W, Freeman B, Rauschecker J (1981) Restriction of visual experience to a single orientation affects the organization of orientation columns in cat visual cortex. Exp Brain Res 41: 199–215

    Google Scholar 

  • Singer W, von Gruenau MW, Rauschecker J (1980) Functional amblyopia in kittens with unilateral exotropia. I Electrophysiological assessment. Exp Brain Res 40: 294–304

    Google Scholar 

  • Singer W, Tretter F, Yinon U (1979) Inverted vision causes elective loss of striate cortex neurons with binocular, vertically oriented receptive fields. Brain Res 170: 177–181

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith EL, Bennett MJ, Harwerth RS (1979) Binocularity in ittens reared with optically induced squint. Science 204: 875–877

    Google Scholar 

  • Tieman SB, Tumosa N (1983) (C14)2-Deoxyglucose demonstration of the organization of ocular dominance in area 17 and 18 of the normal cat. Brain Res 267: 35–46

    Google Scholar 

  • Tusa RJ, Palmer LA, Rosenquist AC (1978) The retinotopic organization of area 17 (striate cortex) in the cat. J Comp Neurol 177: 213–236

    Google Scholar 

  • Van Sluyters RC, Levitt FB (1980) Experimental strabismus in the kitten. J Neurophysiol 43: 686–699

    Google Scholar 

  • Vakkur BJ, Bishop PO, Kozak W (1963) Visual optics in the cat, including posterior nodal distance and retinal landmarks. Vision Res 3: 289–314

    Google Scholar 

  • Wiesel TN, Hubet DH (1963) Effects of visual deprivation on morphology and physiology of cells in the cat's lateral geniculate body. J Neurophysiol 26: 978–993

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson JR, Sherman SM (1976) Receptive field characteristics of neurons in the cat striate cortex: changes with visual field eccentricity. J Neurophysiol 39: 512–533

    Google Scholar 

  • Wise RP, Lund RD (1976) Retina and central projections of heterochromatic rats. Exp Neurol 51: 68–77

    Google Scholar 

  • Yin TCT, Kalil RE, Schechter PB (1983) Visual evoked responses from strabismic cats. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 24: 1390–1399

    Google Scholar 

  • Yinon U (1976) Age dependence of the effect of squint on cells in kitten's visual cortex. Exp Brain Res 26: 151–157

    Google Scholar 

  • Yinon U, Auerbach E, Blank M, Friesenhausen J (1976) The ocular dominance of cortical neurons in cats developed with divergent and convergent squint. Vision Res 15: 1251–1256

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Abteilung für Vergleichende Neurobiologie (Biologie IV), Universität Ulm, Oberer Eselsberg, Postfach 4066, D-7900, Ulm/Donau, Federal Republic of Germany

    K. -P. Hoffmann & A. Schoppmann

Authors
  1. K. -P. Hoffmann
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. A. Schoppmann
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Hoffmann, K.P., Schoppmann, A. Shortage of binocular cells in area 17 of visual cortex in cats with congenital strabismus. Exp Brain Res 55, 470–482 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00235278

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00235278

Key words

Search

Navigation