A morphological study of the nucleus subpretectalis of the pigeon

In pigeons, the tectofugal system is functionally as well as structurally lateralized. So for example the right nucleus rotundus is less modulated by right forebrain influences than the left nucleus rotundus by the left ones. This functional lateralization pattern may depend on a dynamic balance between left and right tectal processing. Apart from inhibitory interactions at tectal level, suppressive influences might directly affect rotundal neurons by GABAergic input from a cluster of nuclei, the bed nuclei of the tecto-thalamic tract. A major afferent of these nuclei is the side branch of the tectorotundal projection which is of bilateral origin and which is involved in the regulation of ipsilateral as well as bilateral visual processing. Hence, an important role of the bed nuclei could be the interhemispheric communication and in turn the mediation of functional asymmetries. In a first step to unravel asymmetric influences of these nuclei, the present study investigated if the largest of the bed nuclei, the nucleus subpretectalis displays morphological asymmetries in the pigeon. We found that the nucleus subpretectalis in fact exhibits asymmetric cell sizes with larger cell bodies on the left side. This asymmetrical pattern was not present in dark-incubated animals indicating that cell size asymmetries within nucleus subpretectalis are induced by asymmetric photic stimulation during embryonic development.