Chengetanai Samson, Bhagwandin Adhil, Bertelsen Mads F, Hård Therese, Hof Patrick R, Spocter Muhammad A, Manger Paul R
School of Anatomical Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Center for Zoo and Wild Animal Health, Copenhagen Zoo, Frederiksberg, Denmark.
J Comp Neurol. 2020 Dec 15;528(18):3262-3284. doi: 10.1002/cne.25000. Epub 2020 Sep 18.
The variegated pelage and social complexity of the African wild dog (Lycaon pictus) hint at the possibility of specializations of the visual system. Here, using a range of architectural and immunohistochemical stains, we describe the systems-level organization of the image-forming, nonimage forming, oculomotor, and accessory optic, vision-associated systems in the brain of one representative individual of the African wild dog. For all of these systems, the organization, in terms of location, parcellation and topology (internal and external), is very similar to that reported in other carnivores. The image-forming visual system consists of the superior colliculus, visual dorsal thalamus (dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus, pulvinar and lateral posterior nucleus) and visual cortex (occipital, parietal, suprasylvian, temporal and splenial visual regions). The nonimage forming visual system comprises the suprachiasmatic nucleus, ventral lateral geniculate nucleus, pretectal nuclear complex and the Edinger-Westphal nucleus. The oculomotor system incorporates the oculomotor, trochlear and abducens cranial nerve nuclei as well as the parabigeminal nucleus, while the accessory optic system includes the dorsal, lateral and medial terminal nuclei. The extent of similarity to other carnivores in the systems-level organization of these systems indicates that the manner in which these systems process visual information is likely to be consistent with that found, for example, in the well-studied domestic cat. It would appear that the sociality of the African wild dog is dependent upon the processing of information extracted from the visual system in the higher-order cognitive and affective neural systems.
非洲野犬（非洲野犬属）斑驳的皮毛和复杂的社会行为暗示了其视觉系统可能存在特化现象。在此，我们使用一系列神经解剖学和免疫组织化学染色方法，描述了一只非洲野犬代表个体大脑中成像视觉系统、非成像视觉系统、动眼系统和附属视觉系统的系统级组织。对于所有这些系统，在位置、分区和拓扑结构（内部和外部）方面的组织与其他食肉动物的报道非常相似。成像视觉系统由上丘、视觉背丘脑（背外侧膝状核、丘脑枕和外侧后核）和视觉皮层（枕叶、顶叶、上薛氏回、颞叶和脾状视觉区）组成。非成像视觉系统包括视交叉上核、腹外侧膝状核、顶盖前核复合体和动眼神经副核。动眼系统包括动眼神经核、滑车神经核和展神经核以及脑桥旁核，而附属视觉系统包括背侧、外侧和内侧终核。这些系统在系统级组织上与其他食肉动物的相似程度表明，这些系统处理视觉信息的方式可能与例如研究充分的家猫的方式一致。看来非洲野犬的社会性依赖于在高阶认知和情感神经系统中对从视觉系统提取的信息进行处理。
