The postnatal spatial and temporal development of corticospinal projections in cats

Orthograde labeling and immunocytochemical techniques were used to study the postnatal spatial and temporal development of corticospinal projections in cats. Findings from the orthograde labeling studies indicate that there are three major phases in the spatial development of corticospinal projections: an early period (1-10 postnatal days) when cortical axons grow into the spinal gray from the white matter; an intermediate period (2-5 postnatal weeks) where corticospinal axons develop terminal arborizations in a rostral to caudal, medial to lateral and intermediate gray to dorsal and ventral horn sequence; and, a late period (6-7 postnatal weeks) during which some corticospinal projections are eliminated. The time period over which cortical axons grow into the spinal cord was determined immunocytochemically using a monoclonal antibody against a microtubule associated protein (MAP 1B) present in growing axons. The corticospinal tracts were strongly immunoreactive for MAP 1B during the first three postnatal weeks. MAP 1B immunostaining of these tracts started to decline in the fourth postnatal week and was completely absent by five weeks of age. These findings indicate that the postnatal development of corticospinal projections is spatially and temporally protracted in cats.