Retinotectal system of the tortoise, Testudo horsfieldi, Gray (morpho-functional study in the norm and after enucleation)

Abstract

The optic nerve and mesencephalic optic centre (tectum opticum, TO) of the tortoise, Testudo horsfieldi, Gray, in the norm and after the enucleation have been studies using Golgi's method, electron microscopy and the electrophysiological technique. The optic nerve comprises about 400,000 fibres represented by two classes of axons: myelinated (10%) and unmyelinated (90%). The diameters of the former vary within 0.3-3 mum, of the latter within 0.3-1.1 mum. The neurogramms of the optic nerve contain two components corresponding to the two rates of conduction through different groups of fibres (1.3 musec and 0.5 musec). The stratified synaptic organization of the TO has been investigated. The optic terminals are shown to join in complex synaptic formations at certain levels of the upper layers of the TO (Strata I, II and III). The process of degeneration in the optic system of Testudo is drastically stretched in time. It was demonstrated by the electrophysiological control that the TO potentials induced in response to the nerve stimulation were not registered any longer only 6-6.5 months after the enucleation. Certain groups of retinal fibres of the optic nerve and their terminals in the TO are shown to degenerate differently and asynchronously. Earlier unknown types of destructive changes of the terminals (vesicular, neurofilamentous, glycogen and others) are described. It is suggested that the different types of degeneration of the optic fibres and their terminals are the result of possible biochemical heterogeneity of the retinal ganglious cells. The comparison of the terms and types of degeneration of different groups of nervous fibres in the optic nerve and their terminals in the TO has revealed some correlations suggesting that the myelinated optic fibres produce nervous terminals degenerating by the "dark" type, whereas the unmyelinated optic axons may be subdivided into several groups, each producing nervous terminals subjected to a definite type of destruction ("clear", "vesicular", "neurofilamentous" etc.). The localization of certain groups of therminals at certain levels of the cortical plate of the TO confirms the electrophysiological data on the stratified organization of the retino-tectal projections in the TO of lower vertebrates. It has been shown by the comparison of the results obtained with those reported for Emys orbicularis, L. that the two species have marked differences in the morpho-functional characteristics of the retino-tectal system, neuronic composition of the TO, the character of destructive changes of the terminals after the enucleation and the component composition of polysynaptic complexes and glomerules. Probably these differences may come from the peculiarities of the perception and transformation of visual information in the species.