Sprouting of the visual corticocollicular terminal field after removal of contralateral retinal inputs in neonatal rabbits

The morphological changes occurring in the visual corticocollicular projection following removal of the contralateral retina (within the first 48 h of postnatal life) were studied using New Zealand rabbits. At 45-50 days after lesion, the corticocollicular terminal field was examined by anterograde transport of Phaseolus vulgaris leucoagglutinin, which was applied iontophoretically in the central region of the contralateral striate cortex. In contrast to normal intact rabbits of the same age, the corticocollicular terminal field was markedly enlarged in experimental animals. In the centre of the field we found abundant oblique fibres which sent out branches. These collateral fibres coursed over long distances, parallel to the pial surface, in the stratum zonale and in the upper part of the stratum griseum superficiale. The presence of these fibres, together with an increased density of synaptic boutons at more superficial levels of the sprouted terminal field, suggest that corticocollicular fibres tended to occupy territories left vacant when retinocollicular axons degenerated after enucleation. The high density and extensive distribution of these corticocollicular fibres may be due to the continued growth of the fibres, which occupy an extensive territory during the early postnatal stages and which, under normal circumstances are retracted during the process of postnatal maturation. Despite the expansion of the field occupied by corticocollicular synapses, its centre coincided topographically with the field centres in normal animals, indicating the existence of intrinsic positional cues that persisted after enucleation and determined the arrangement of visual cortical afferents. This model, which involves substantial changes in terminal field organization, should prove useful in elucidating the cellular and molecular processes underlying regeneration and plasticity in the visual system.