Two distinct retinal projections to the hamster suprachiasmatic nucleus

Electrical stimulation of the intergeniculate leaflet (IGL) region in hamsters can induce expression of Fos-like immunoreactivity (lir) in a restricted portion of the dorsolateral suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN). The authors investigated whether the mechanisms by which stimulation affects SCN cells involves orthodromic activation of IGL cells projecting to the SCN or antidromic activation of retinal ganglion cells that send bifurcating axonal projections to both the IGL and the SCN. Bilateral optic enucleation strongly reduced induction of Fos-lir in SCN cells in response to electrical stimulation of the IGL region, implicating antidromic activation of retinal ganglion cells as the mechanism. This result implies that a class of retinal ganglion cells that project to the IGL also project selectively to the dorsolateral SCN. Earlier pharmacological studies suggest that this anatomically distinct retinal projection to the SCN is also neurochemically different from that innervating the rest of the nucleus.