Glutamatergic neurotransmission from the optic tectum to the contralateral nucleus rotundus in pigeons
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Updated: Oct 29, 2026

Combined In Vivo Anatomical and Functional Tracing of Ventral Tegmental Area Glutamate Terminals in the Hippocampus
Published on: September 9, 2020
1Laboratory for Visual Information Processing, Institute of Biophysics, Academia Sinica, Beijing, China.
Abstract:
Neuronal responses of 114 cells to electrical stimulation of the optic tectum were extracellularly recorded from the contralateral nucleus rotundus (nRt) in pigeons (Columba livia), and the effects of two glutamatergic antagonists CNQX and CPP, as well as those of GABA, were examined on rotundal cells. The results show that tectal stimulation evokes excitation in neurons of the contralateral nRt and that the excitatory responses are blocked by microiontophoretically applied CNQX, CPP and GABA. It is suggested that the contralateral tectorotundal transmission is excitatory in nature and mediated by both glutamatergic AMPA and NMDA receptors and that GABA is an inhibitory transmitter within the nucleus as well. We also review our previous findings in discussing transmitters participating in the tectofugal pathway.
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