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Age-Related Changes in Soma Size of Y Neurons in the Cat Dorsal Lateral Geniculate Nucleus: Dorsoventral and Centroperipheral Gradients

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Abstract

The postnatal developmental dynamics of neurons in the cat dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus (dLGN) was studied using a selective marker of Y neurons, the monoclonal antibody SMI-32 against non-phosphorylated heavy-chain neurofilaments. The neuronal soma area was measured within various functional regions of the nucleus. The following three major peculiarities of the internal organization of the dLGN layers and retinotopic regions were revealed: (1) an ascending dorsoventral soma area gradient of SMI-32-immunopositive neurons, increasing with age; (2) a descending centroperipheral soma area gradient of SMI-32-immunopositive neurons, decreasing with age; (3) smaller size of neurons located in the lower visual field representation along the vertical meridian. The data suggest heterogeneity of the population of Y neurons and heterochronicity of its postnatal development.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors are grateful to the associates of the Neuromorphology Laboratory for their help in conducting the experiments.

Funding

This work was supported by the State Program 47 SP “Scientific and Technological Development of the Russian Federation” (2019–2030), theme reg. no. 0134-2019-0006.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Pavlov Institute of Physiology, Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, Russia

    A. A. Mikhalkin, N. I. Nikitina & N. S. Merkulyeva

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  1. A. A. Mikhalkin
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  2. N. I. Nikitina
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  3. N. S. Merkulyeva
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Contributions

Conceptualization and experimental design (A.А.M., N.S.M.); data collection and processing (A.A.M., N.I.N.); statistical data treatment (А.А.M.); data analysis and interpretation (A.А.M., N.S.M.); writing and editing the manuscript (A.А.M., N.S.M.).

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Correspondence to N. S. Merkulyeva.

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Translated by A. Polyanovsky

Russian Text © The Author(s), 2022, published in Zhurnal Evolyutsionnoi Biokhimii i Fiziologii, 2022, Vol. 58, No. 6, pp. 580–588https://doi.org/10.31857/S0044452922060079.

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Mikhalkin, A.A., Nikitina, N.I. & Merkulyeva, N.S. Age-Related Changes in Soma Size of Y Neurons in the Cat Dorsal Lateral Geniculate Nucleus: Dorsoventral and Centroperipheral Gradients. J Evol Biochem Phys 58, 1809–1818 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0022093022060126

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