Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

Emergence of order in visual system development

C J Shatz1

  • 1Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of California, Berkeley 94720, USA.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
|January 23, 1996
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Climate change and the integrity of science.

Science (New York, N.Y.)·2010
Same author

An instructive role for retinal waves in the development of retinogeniculate connectivity.

Neuron·2002
Same author

Neuronal plasticity and cellular immunity: shared molecular mechanisms.

Current opinion in neurobiology·2001
Same author

A novel p75NTR signaling pathway promotes survival, not death, of immunopurified neocortical subplate neurons.

The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience·2001
Same author

Functional requirement for class I MHC in CNS development and plasticity.

Science (New York, N.Y.)·2000
Same author

Netrin-1 promotes thalamic axon growth and is required for proper development of the thalamocortical projection.

The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience·2000
Same journal

Chemotactic self-organization captures the dynamics of mammalian hair follicle patterning.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·2026
Same journal

Tomographic imaging of superconducting order using particle-hole interference.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·2026
Same journal

Inhibitory potential of autologous neutralizing antibodies sets quantitative limits on the rebound-competent HIV-1 reservoir.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·2026
Same journal

Inferring epidemiological parameters under an infectious phylogeography model with visitor dynamics.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·2026
Same journal

Analytical modeling for suction cup designs for skin-interfaced wearable devices.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·2026
Same journal

Improving cell-free metabolism through direct integration of artificial respiratory chains.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·2026
See all related articles

Developing visual system wiring relies on spontaneous, synchronized retinal ganglion cell activity. These early neural waves guide eye-specific layer formation in the lateral geniculate nucleus before vision begins.

Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Developmental Biology
  • Visual System Development

Background:

  • Adult central nervous system connections are precise, with visual system inputs forming distinct eye-specific layers in the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN).
  • During development, inputs from both eyes initially intermix before sorting into adult patterns.
  • This intricate wiring occurs before vision and requires neural signaling.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the role of spontaneous neural activity in the formation of eye-specific layers in the developing visual system.
  • To understand how retinal ganglion cell signaling contributes to the precise wiring of the LGN.
  • To explore the mechanisms of activity-dependent wiring in the central nervous system.

Main Methods:

  • Blocking retinal ganglion cell action potentials using tetrodotoxin to observe effects on layer formation.

Related Experiment Videos

  • Calcium imaging of retinal activity to analyze correlated bursting and wave generation.
  • In vitro physiological recordings from LGN neurons to assess synaptic transmission of retinal activity.

    • Main Results:

    • Blocking retinal ganglion cell activity with tetrodotoxin prevented the formation of eye-specific layers in the LGN.
    • Retinal ganglion cells exhibit spontaneous, synchronous bursting activity, generating retinal waves.
    • Amacrine cells participate in these correlated activity patterns, and this activity is transmitted to LGN neurons.

    Conclusions:

    • A retinal neural circuit generates specific spatiotemporal activity patterns essential for visual system wiring.
    • Spontaneous retinal activity propagates across central synapses, influencing neural circuit refinement.
    • Neural activity, independent of photoreceptor input, is crucial for the precise wiring of the developing visual system.