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Sensory afferent segregation in three-eared frogs resemble the dominance columns observed in three-eyed frogs
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Sensory afferent segregation in three-eared frogs resemble the dominance columns observed in three-eyed frogs

Karen L Elliott, Douglas W Houston and Bernd Fritzsch
Scientific reports, Vol.5(1), pp.8338-8338
02/09/2015
DOI: 10.1038/srep08338
PMCID: PMC4648447
PMID: 25661240
url
https://doi.org/10.1038/srep08338View
Published (Version of record) Open Access

Abstract

The formation of proper sensory afferent connections during development is essential for brain function. Activity-based competition is believed to drive ocular dominance columns (ODC) in mammals and in experimentally-generated three-eyed frogs. ODC formation is thus a compromise of activity differences between two eyes and similar molecular cues. To gauge the generality of graphical map formation in the brain, we investigated the inner ear projection, known for its well-defined and early segregation of afferents from vestibular and auditory endorgans. In analogy to three eyed-frogs, we generated three-eared frogs to assess to what extent vestibular afferents from two adjacent ears could segregate. Donor ears were transplanted either in the native orientation or rotated by 90 degrees. These manipulations should result in either similar or different induced activity between both ears, respectively. Three-eared frogs with normal orientation showed normal swimming whereas those with a rotated third ear showed aberrant behaviors. Projection studies revealed that only afferents from the rotated ears segregated from those from the native ear within the vestibular nucleus, resembling the ocular dominance columns formed in three-eyed frogs. Vestibular segregation suggests that mechanisms comparable to those operating in the ODC formation of the visual system may act on vestibular projection refinements.
Eye - pathology Animals Visual Pathways - physiopathology Xenopus laevis Visual Pathways - pathology Dominance, Ocular Eye - transplantation Eye - physiopathology

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