Development of cell and fiber lamination in the mouse superior colliculus

The emergence of laminar organization in the superior colliculus was investigated in the mouse with several anatomical methods, including tritiated-thymidine autoradiography, Golgi impregnation, and general stains for cell bodies and for fibers. The sequence of neurogenesis, cell migration, and early morphological differentiation of neurons was shown to exhibit a discontinuity between the lower and upper divisions (i.e., between the deep and intermediate "gray" and "white" layers and the superficial "gray" and "white" layers). These events proceed in an inside-out order within the lower division, but the same events within the upper division commence in advance of the completion of this progression. Thus, peak generation times for layers of the lower division proceed from (embryonic day) E11 to E13 and for the upper division from E12 to E13. Cell migration, as monitored with tritiated-thymidine labelling, reflects closely the pattern of cytogenesis. This is most clearly evident on E15 when a population of E11-labelled cells is divided into superficial and deep layers (the strata superficiale and profundum--SS and SP) by the interposition of E13-labelled cells at an intermediate level (stratum intermedium--SI). A contingent of the latter cells continue their migration and join their predecessors within the SS on E17, a time point when cell migrations are largely complete. Paralleling this sequence of arrival of neurons and the formation of three primary layers, both the time course of accumulation of fiber fascicles and the early morphological differentiation of neurons in the interval from E13 to E17 tends to proceed from SP to SS and from SS to SI. Thus, the transverse fiber system and large multipolar neurons of SP develop in advance of the longitudinal fiber system and vertically oriented neurons of SS, which in turn develop precociously with respect to the longitudinal fibers and medium-sized multipolar neurons of SI. In contrast, later events of differentiation that underly a major radial growth and an architectonic sublamination of the primary strata proceed in a simpler inside-out sequence from E17 to (postnatal day) P6. The major morphogenetic events underlying the establishment of statification in the colliculus appear to involve the operation of relatively independent programs of assembly for the two basic subdivisions. It is probable that selective cell-cell interactions contribute to the delivery of concurrently generated neurons to different laminae as well as to the deployment of axons in a manner that respects laminar boundaries.