Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 18, 2026

The Gateway to the Brain: Dissecting the Primate Eye
Published on: May 27, 2009
Overproduction and elimination of retinal axons in the fetal rhesus monkey
Abstract:
Quantitative electron microscopic analysis reveals 2.85 million retinal axons in fetal rhesus monkeys--a number that is more than twice the 1.2 million present in the adult. More than 1 million supernumerary optic axons are eliminated before birth, simultaneously with the segregation of inputs from the two eyes into separate layers of the lateral geniculate nucleus. Selective elimination of optic axons may not only play a role in the segregation of binocular visual connections but, secondarily, may establish the ratio of crossed and uncrossed retinogeniculate projections.
Related Concept Videos
Teratogenicity
Anatomy of the Eyeball
Photoreceptors and Visual Pathways
Diabetic Retinopathy

