Ganglion cell densities in normal and dark-reared turtle retinas

In dark-reared, neonatal turtle retinas, ganglion cell receptive fields and dendritic trees grow faster than normal. As a result, their areas may become, on average, up to twice as large as in control retinas. This raises the question of whether the coverage factor of dark-reared ganglion cells is larger than normal. Alternatively, dark rearing may lead to smaller-than-normal cell densities by accelerating apoptosis. To test these alternatives, we investigated the effect of light deprivation on densities and soma sizes of turtle retinal ganglion cells. For this purpose, we marked these cells using retrograde labeling of fixed turtle retinas with DiI (1,1'-dioctadecyl-3,3,3',3'-tetramethylindocarbocyanine perchlorate). Control turtles were maintained in a regular 12-h light/dark cycle from hatching until 4 weeks of age, whereas dark-reared turtles were maintained in total darkness for the same period. Ganglion cells in the control and dark-reared retinas were found to be similar in density and soma sizes. These results show that the mean coverage factor of turtle dark-reared ganglion cells is larger than normal.