Subcortical projections of area 17 in the anophthalmic mouse.

Anterograde and retrograde tracing methods were used to compare the subcortical projections of area 17 in ZRDCT-an, anophthalmic mice with those of sighted C57BL mice. In both groups, area 17 projected to the dorsocaudal striatum, the reticular, lateral and lateral posterior nuclei, the dorsal and vental lateral geniculate nuclei, the zona incerta, the anterior and posterior pretectal nuclei, the stratum griseum superficiale of the superior colliculus and the dorsolateral pons. Occasional labeled fibers in both groups were also seen in the ventrobasal nucleus, but it was not clear whether or not any axons terminated in this region. The projections to the superior colliculus and dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus were analyzed in greater detail. In both normals and blind mice the striate corticotectal projection arose from cells in layer V and that to the geniculate from neurons in lamina VI. The topographic organizations of these projections in the two groups were indistinguishable. The striate corticotectal projection to the colliculus in the anophthalmic mice did appear to terminate more dorsally in the stratum griseum superficiale than that in sighted animals. These data demonstrate that a signal from the retina is not required for either the restriction of 'visual' cortical axons to their normal subcortical targets or the achievement of normal topography within those target nuclei.