Nucleus rotundus in a snake, Thamnophis sirtalis: an analysis of a nonretinotopic projection

Nucleus rotundus, a tectorecipient thalamic nucleus in reptiles and birds, is described for the first time in a snake. The morphology of rotundal neurons and tectorotundal axons was studied at the light microscopic level by using anterograde and retrograde filling with the horseradish peroxidase (HRP). Injections of HRP in the dorsal ventricular ridge retrogradely fill neurons in rotundus. Rotundus is situated centrally in the caudal diencephalon medial to the cell plate of the retinorecipient geniculate complex and ventrolateral to the lentiform thalamic nucleus. The dendrites of rotundal neurons are long and radiate, but are confined within the cytoarchitectonically defined borders of the nucleus. Injections of HRP into the optic tectum anterogradely fill axons that project to rotundus bilaterally via the tectothalamic tract. Small injections show that axons arising from a single tectal locus distribute to all sectors of rotundus. Thus, this projection may not be retinotopically organized. However, single axons reconstructed through serial sections form spatially restricted, sheetlike terminal fields that pass caudorostrally through the entire extent of rotundus. Several hypotheses on the functional significance of such organized but nonretinotopic visual projections are discussed.