[Course of the degeneration of the primary visual system in albino quails with glaucoma].

In the quail, a sex-linked albino mutation is associated with buphthalmic glaucoma. This progressive disorder is detectable 3 to 6 months after hatching. Its development leads to a degeneration of retinal projection according to a relatively orderly sequence progressing from the tegmentum to the tectum and from the pretectum to the thalamus. We suggest that the degeneration of visual axons might be produced by mechanical compression resulting from an increase in intraocular pressure.