Optic axons ignore denervated foreign territory in goldfish tectum

Ultrastructural morphometry was used to test firstly, whether regenerating optic axons in goldfish tectum will form connections in adjacent denervated foreign territory and secondly, whether intact optic axons will collaterally sprout to innervate this territory. The stratum fibrosum marginale of the tectum was partially denervated by removing the torus longitudinalis and cutting the tectal commissure. Optic axons do not normally synapse in this layer. Thirty days after partial denervation and optic tract section the numbers of normal synapses in a micron 2 column through the stratum fibrosum marginale reached a minimum and then started to increase so that by 159-173 days after the operation they had returned to control levels. Optic terminals, recognised by their degeneration after optic nerve section, did not contribute to these increasing numbers of synapses. Instead, optic axons preferentially reinnervated their normal tectal layers. Similarly, there was no evidence of collateral sprouting of intact optic axons into the partially denervated stratum fibrosum marginale and numbers of normal synapses in the layer also returned to control levels. These probably arose from collateral sprouting of terminals remaining after the partial denervation, raising the possibility that optic axons were prevented from synapsing there by the rapid occupation of vacant sites by other axons. However, delaying the partial denervation with respect to the tract section did not alter the result. These results support the idea of a specific affinity between optic axons and their postsynaptic targets.