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Vertebrate Eye Development pp 157–177Cite as

Connecting the Eye with the Brain: The Formation of the Retinotectal Pathway

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Part of the book series: Results and Problems in Cell Differentiation ((RESULTS,volume 31))

Abstract

The retino-tectal system has served as a model for the growth and navigation of axons in the developing brain for over 50 years, when the first anatomical studies of embryos revealed details of the ontogeny of this pathway (Herrick 1941). Such observations led to various enthusiastic speculations concerning axon growth, including ideas that growth cones were towed to their targets, or directed there by electric fields. These hypotheses were succeeded by others, slightly less fantastic, which had retinal axons following emerging cracks and channels in the brain that blazed the trail for their long journey (reviewed in Jacobson, 1991). In the 1960s, Sperry made what at first seemed like an equally wild hypothesis, that retinal axons were led to their specific targets in the tectum by cytochemical tags (Sperry 1963). For more than 30 years, Sperry’s hypothesis gained force as attempts to disprove or replace it with less biochemical hypotheses failed. Though success in the search for the molecular basis of retinal axon navigation, and the vindication of Sperry, had to wait until the 1990s and the second coming of age of molecular biology, the attraction of the retino-tectal system for investigating these fundamental issues has never diminished. As a result, this is one of the most carefully studied and well-characterized developing axon pathways known.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anatomy, University of Cambridge, Downing St., Cambridge, CB2 3DY, UK

    William A. Harris

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  1. Karl G. Johnson
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  2. William A. Harris
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Vision Research Laboratories, New England Eye Center, Tufts University School of Medicine, 750 Washington Street, Box 450, Boston, MA, 02111, USA

    M. Elizabeth Fini Ph. D.

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Johnson, K.G., Harris, W.A. (2000). Connecting the Eye with the Brain: The Formation of the Retinotectal Pathway. In: Fini, M.E. (eds) Vertebrate Eye Development. Results and Problems in Cell Differentiation, vol 31. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-46826-4_9

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