The early development of retinal ganglion cells with uncrossed axons in the mouse: retinal position and axonal course

The carbocyanine dye, DiI, has been used to study the retinal origin of the uncrossed retinofugal component of the mouse and to show the course taken by these fibres through the optic nerve and chiasm during development. Optic axons first arrive at the chiasm at embryonic day 13 (E13) but do not cross the midline until E14. After this stage, fibres taking an uncrossed course can be selectively labelled by unilateral tract implants of DiI. The earliest ipsilaterally projecting ganglion cells are located in the dorsal central retina. The first sign of the adult pattern of distribution of ganglion cells with uncrossed axons located mainly in the ventrotemporal retina is seen on embryonic day 16.5, thus showing that the adult line of decussation forms early in development. A small number of labelled cells continue to be found in nasal and dorsal retina at all later stages. At early stages (E14-15), retrogradely labelled uncrossed fibres are found in virtually all fascicles of the developing nerve, intermingling with crossed axons throughout the length of the nerve. At later stages of development (E16-17), although uncrossed fibres pass predominantly within the temporal part of the stalk, they remain intermingled with crossed axons. A significant number of uncrossed axons also lie within the nasal part of the optic stalk. The position of uncrossed fibres throughout the nerve in the later developmental stages is comparable to that seen in the adult rodent (Baker and Jeffery, 1989). The distribution of uncrossed axons thus indicates that positional cues are not sufficient to account for the choice made by axons when they reach the optic chiasm.