The retinal distribution of ganglion cells with crossed and uncrossed projections and the visual field representation in the opossum.

The retinal distribution of ganglion cells with crossed and uncrossed projections in the South American opossum, Didelphis marsupialis, was revealed by delivering HRP to one optic tract or to retinal targets of one hemisphere. The cells with uncrossed projections are restricted to the temporal retina, comprising 1/3 of the total retinal area, with a sharp transition at the naso-temporal boundary. Besides being distributed over the nasal 2/3 of the retina, cells with crossed projections are intermingled with those with uncrossed projections over the entire temporal retina. Quantitative analysis about the representation of the horizontal meridian on four specimens revealed that the maximum density of cells with uncrossed projections is on the average located at 3.2 mm (SD = 0.21), i.e. 34.8 deg, temporal to the optic disk, falling to 10% at 2.1 mm (SD = 0.14) or 22.8 deg. On the other hand, the peak for cells with crossed projections is more nasally placed at 1.8 mm (SD = 0.18), i.e. 19.6 deg. Between these two maxima, the site wherein the densities of cells with crossed and uncrossed projections are about equal is on the average about 2.7 mm (SD = 0.25) form the optic disk, i.e. 29.3 deg. This estimate supports the hypothesis that the retinal intersection of the vertical meridian lies within the region of split representation of crossed and uncrossed ganglion cells. In addition, it was observed that the opossum's retina has a large contingent of cells with uncrossed projections temporal to an eccentricity of 2.7 mm from the optic disk, where it represents roughly 2/3 of the ganglion cells. These data corroborate the relevance of the opossum as a non-primate model for visual work.