A comparison of visual pathways in Boston and Midwestern Siamese cats

A genetic mutation in Siamese cats causes retinogeniculate fibers representing roughly the first 20 degrees of ipsilateral visual field in each eye to cross aberrantly in the optic chiasm and terminate in the wrong lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN). Previous investigations have shown that in the visual cortex this extra representation of ipsilateral visual field can be organized into one pattern in Boston Siamese cats, another in Midwestern. This finding was confirmed here. The possibility that the organization of the LGN might account for these two patterns was studied using combined anatomical and physiological methods. On the basis of microelectrode recordings from the visual cortex, 11 out of the 12 Siamese cats included here were Boston cats; one was Midwestern. The distribution of retinogeniculate terminals was examined in each cat using autoradiographic techniques following an eye-injection of 3H-proline. Overall, the LGN organization in Boston cats was similar to that of Midwestern: both lateral and medial normal segments of lamina A1 (mnA1) were present. In Boston cats, however, the mnA1 was remarkably small and shifted ventromedially in the nucleus to allow for the fusion between the medial borders of lamina A and the abnormal segment of A1. In the Midwestern cat this fusion was not apparent and the medial normal segment of A1 was significantly larger. These differences in organization of the LGN are consistent with those seen at the level of the visual cortex in Midwestern and Boston Siamese cats. It was not possible, however, to relate them clearly to the characteristic strabismus of these animals.