Library

feed icon rss

Your email was sent successfully. Check your inbox.

An error occurred while sending the email. Please try again.

Proceed reservation?

Export
  • 1
    Electronic Resource
    Electronic Resource
    Springer
    Journal of comparative physiology 179 (1996), S. 785-795 
    ISSN: 1432-1351
    Keywords: Birds ; Visual system ; Tectofugal pathway ; Extrastriate cortex ; Mammals
    Source: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Topics: Biology , Medicine
    Notes: Abstract The responses of single cells to computer-generated spots, bars, gratings, and motion-in-depth stimuli were studied in the ectostriatum and the adjacent neostriatum of the zebra finch, Taeniopygia guttata. No differences in neuronal properties could be detected between ectostriatum and neostriatum. The receptive fields of ectostriatal neurons are large, often extending over the entire visual field of the contralateral eye, and have oddly defined borders. The centers of the receptive fields, located in the foveal region, generally yielded better responses than the periphery, and exhibited different subdivisions. Neurons responded selectively to moving bars, preferring those moving parallel to their longest axis. An SDO (sensitivity, direction, orientation) analysis of responses to sinusoidal gratings showed that all orientations were equally represented by ectostriatal neurons, while there was a slight preference for forward and upward movements. The neurons also showed preferences for gratings of a particular spatial frequency, and responded vigorously to stimuli moving towards the eye (“looming”). Our results indicate that the ectostriatum is involved in both detecting displacement of the surround and in stimulus identification. By comparison with results obtained in the extrastriate cortex of mammals, it is concluded that the homology of the ectostriatum with the extrastriate cortex of mammals, which was proposed on the basis of hodological findings, is supported by our study.
    Type of Medium: Electronic Resource
    Library Location Call Number Volume/Issue/Year Availability
    BibTip Others were also interested in ...
  • 2
    Electronic Resource
    Electronic Resource
    Springer
    Experimental brain research 64 (1986), S. 119-126 
    ISSN: 1432-1106
    Keywords: Monocular deprivation ; Visual system ; Birds ; Neuron size ; 2-deoxyglucose
    Source: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Topics: Medicine
    Notes: Summary We evaluated in zebra finches the effects of monocular deprivation on morphological and physiological features of the nucleus rotundus, the thalamic relay station of the tectofugal pathway. In a first series of experiments neuron size and total volume were estimated in animals deprived for 20, 40 and at least 100 days and compared to values obtained from normally reared birds. Monocular closure for more than 40 days causes a marked hypertrophy in cells receiving their main input from the open eye, whereas the deprived cells are normal in size. However, with only 20 days of monocular deprivation both deprived and non-deprived rotundal neurons are larger than normal. This indicates that monocular closure has a biphasic effect: firstly, an unselective hypertrophy of deprived and non-deprived neurons, and secondly, a subsequent period of shrinkage of the deprived cells to normal values, while cells driven by the open eye remain hypertrophied. The total volume of the deprived n. rotundus turns out to be smaller in all age groups. In a second series of experiments the activity of the n. rotundus of animals monocularly deprived from birth for 100 days was investigated with the 2-deoxyglucose-method (Sokoloff et al. 1977). With binocular stimulation the activity of the deprived n. rotundus was reduced by about 40%. Depriving adult animals for 100 days does not result in asymmetric labeling of the n. rotundus. We interpretate the 2-DG data as evidence for the existence of a sensitive period for the effects of monocular deprivation. The anatomical data suggest, however, that the effects of monocular deprivation in birds are different from those observed in mammals.
    Type of Medium: Electronic Resource
    Library Location Call Number Volume/Issue/Year Availability
    BibTip Others were also interested in ...
  • 3
    ISSN: 1432-1106
    Keywords: Zebra finch ; Visually evoked potentials ; Ectrostriatum ; Ipsilateral stimulus responses
    Source: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Topics: Medicine
    Notes: Summary The tectofugal pathway in birds has been reported to process primarily information from the contralateral eye. Although this pathway has access to the contralateral hemisphere by various connections, electrophysiological recordings up to now have failed to demonstrate any excitatory influence of visual stimulation in the higher stations of this pathway. This study is the first to demonstrate an excitatory projection from the ipsilateral eye to the telencephalic projection area of the tectofugal pathway by recordings of visually evoked potentials in the ectostriatum. The excitatory projection probably leads from the eye to the contralateral tectum opticum, then recrosses back to the nucleus rotundus of the ipsilateral side where it reaches the ectostriatum. In normal birds, the ipsilateral stimulus responses in the ectostriatum are smaller in amplitude and have a longer latency than responses to contralateral stimuli. In unilaterally enucleated birds, the ipsilateral response is enhanced in the ectostriatum and can be detected in the nucleus rotundus, too. The results suggest that in normal birds the ipsilateral response is inhibited to a high degree by spontaneous activity of the contralateral eye. Possibly, this counterbalanced inhibition provides a mechanism for weighting information from the left and right eye field in order to ensure adequate processing of stimuli.
    Type of Medium: Electronic Resource
    Library Location Call Number Volume/Issue/Year Availability
    BibTip Others were also interested in ...
Close ⊗
This website uses cookies and the analysis tool Matomo. More information can be found here...