Transition from developing to mature patterns of acetylcholinesterase activity in rat visual cortex: implications for the time-course of geniculocortical development.

Patterns of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) histochemical staining in cortical area 17 differ in infant and mature rats. In infants, intense AChE activity is seen as a band corresponding to layer IV and deep layer III of the visual cortex, and this staining is associated with terminal fields of geniculocortical neurons. In adult animals, AChE activity is densest in deep layer IV and layer V and is associated with projections originating in the basal forebrain. The present study investigated the transition from developing to mature patterns of AChE staining in visual cortex. Unilateral lesions were placed in either the lateral geniculate body or the basal forebrain of rats postnatal days 8 (P8) to adulthood; the effects of these lesions on patterns of AChE activity in visual cortex were studied with histochemical techniques and optical densitometry. Lesions involving the lateral geniculate body markedly reduce AChE activity in visual cortex of P12 rats, had moderate effects in P20 rats, and had no apparent effect on AChE activity of visual cortex of rats aged P40 and older. Lesions of basal forebrain had little effect on AChE activity in visual cortex of P12 animals, increasing effect in P15-35 rats, and eliminated much of AChE staining in visual cortex of adults. The period of transition from developing to mature patterns of AChE activity in visual cortex of animals bilaterally enucleated at birth was not different from the period of transition in normally sighted animals. These data indicate that mature patterns of AChE activity in visual cortex are not achieved until well into the second month of life. If transient AChE expression is characteristic of geniculocortical neurons during the period of time in which axons are proliferating within visual cortex, then these data indicate that geniculocortical connections may be forming well into the second month of life in the rat.