A transient pyramidal tract projection from the visual cortex in the hamster and its removal by selective collateral elimination.

During the early postnatal development of the neocortex in rats there is an axonal projection from the occipital cortex (which includes the visual cortex) to the spinal cord which is subsequently completely removed through a process of selective collateral elimination. In order to determine whether a similar phenomenon occurs during the development of the hamster cortex, we have injected the retrogradely transported fluorescent dye Fast Blue (FB) into the pyramidal decussation of hamsters at various ages. In adult hamsters such an injection results in a band of labeled neurons confined to layer V and to about the rostral two-thirds of the neocortex; no labeled cells are seen in the occipital cortex. However, a similar FB injection made during the first postnatal week results after a 4-day survival in a continuous band of FB-labeled layer V neurons spread throughout the tangential extent of the neocortex, including the occipital cortex. A similar continuous band of FB labeled layer V neurons is seen throughout the tangential extent of the neocortex including the occipital region in hamsters injected during the first postnatal week but allowed to survive until the fourth week (i.e., after the restriction of the widespread neonatal pattern has occurred). Injections of the anterograde tracer wheat germ agglutinin conjugated to horseradish peroxidase made into the occipital cortex, or for comparison, into more rostral cortical regions in hamsters ranging in age from neonates to adults, reveal that the extension of pyramidal tract axons is staggered along the anterioposterior axis of the cortex such that axons originating from the posterior regions lag behind those arising from more rostral areas. The transient occipital projection appears to reach a maximum around the end of the first postnatal week: a large number of labeled occipital axons is seen in the medullary pyramidal tract, and some of these can be followed through the pyramidal decussation and into the dorsal funiculus of the spinal cord. Injections into the occipital cortex on P16 label only a few fibers in the medullary pyramidal tract, and none is labeled in hamsters injected as adults.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)