Elsevier

Experimental Neurology

Volume 25, Issue 3, November 1969, Pages 378-392
Experimental Neurology

Conduction velocity of optic nerve fibers innervating lateral geniculate body and superior colliculus in the rat

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Abstract

Conduction velocities of the optic nerve (ON) in the rat were measured by recording evoked unitary discharges of postsynaptic cells to stimulation of the ON at two separate sites. The velocity of ON impulses to activate a given postsynaptic cell was calculated from the distance between the two stimulating sites and the difference in response latency of the same postsynaptic cell. Recordings were made from the lateral geniculate body (LGB) and the superior colliculus (SC), both contralateral to stimulation. ON fibers innervating principal cells of the LGB (P cells of Burke and Sefton) fell into three groups (tg0, tg1 and tg2) having average velocities of 19.2, 11.9, and 5.2 m/sec, respectively. Internuncial cells (I cells) received tg2 fibers only. There were also three groups of ON fibers destined for the SC (tc0, tc1 and tc2). Their average velocities were 15.4, 9.1, and 3.7 m/sec, respectively.

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    We are grateful to Dr. A. J. Sefton, University of Sydney, and Dr. J. Forrester, University of Edinburgh, for kindly informing us of their original data. Many thanks are due to Dr. H. Shimazu, University of Tokyo, for his helpful discussion, and to Dr. R. W. Doty for his editing of the manuscript. This investigation was supported by a grant from the Ministry of Education of Japan.

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