Brain growth and differentiation in two fetal bats: qualitative and quantitative aspects

The development of the main brain components in two fetal bats (one insectivorous and one frugivorous type) is studied quantitatively and comparatively. The telencephalon, cerebellum, and diencephalon grow faster in the frugivorous bat. The brainstem maintains a greater relative volume throughout in the insectivorous type. The morphology and density of neurons in the cerebellum, caudate nucleus, olfactory mitral stratum, and neocortical layer II suggest that there exists an initial delay in development in the frugivorous bat; through subsequent reordering, however, it becomes more advanced in development, in accordance with the more progressive status of the adult forms in its category. In this there may be a certain ontogenetic recapitulation of a possible chiropteran phylogeny. These comparisons also point to the precociousness of the functional determination of those structures that are related to future behavior in a purely deterministic, non-teleological sense. The qualitative differentiation appears to be more significant than might be expected in comparison with the quantitative proliferation. Technical problems involved in the study of brain morphogenesis are discussed, especially the difficulty of distinguishing the respective effects of cell multiplication, cell death, and artificial increase in cell density through tissue shrinkage.