Displaced retinal ganglion cells in normal rats and rats with one eye enucleated at birth

The displaced retinal ganglion cells in normal rats and rats with left eye enucleated at birth were studied using the fluorescent dye Fast blue as neuronal marker. The dye was introduced to the right optic tract of the rats 7 days before perfusion. Frozen coronal sections of the brains and retinal whole-mounts from all rats were examined under ultraviolet illumination. In the normal rat, the displaced cells constituted 0.91% and 2.07% of the entire population of cells projecting to the contralateral and ipsilateral side of the brain, respectively. While the contralaterally projecting displaced cells were widely distributed in the retina, the ipsilateral ones concentrated mainly in the temporal retinal crescent in all rats studied. However, an increase in the number of the ipsilaterally projecting displaced cells was detected in unilaterally enucleated rats as compared to that observed in normal animals.