Reversal of 2-deoxyglucose uptake pattern across rat superior colliculus layers during recovery from visual cortex ablation.

The 2-deoxy-D-[14C]glucose autoradiographic technique was used to assess metabolic activity across stratum griseum superficiale, stratum opticum, and stratum griseum mediale of the superior colliculus, at intervals of 1 to 90 days after a unilateral visual cortex lesion. Initially, glucose metabolism ipsilateral to the lesion was more depressed in stratum griseum mediale than in superficiale, but beginning at about 14 days postlesion this layer pattern reversed. The rise in mediale metabolic activity correlated in time with a decline in generalized cortical depression. On the basis of anatomic connections, we concluded that the generalized cortical depression had disrupted input to stratum griseum mediale from cortical areas other than area 17, and that with recovery of cortical metabolic activity, stratum griseum mediale metabolic activity increased to nearly normal.