Mode of reinnervation in neonatally denervated lamina of the cat's lateral geniculate nucleus.

Physiological properties of relay cells were studied in the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) of neonatally one-eye-removed adult cats. Most of the relay cells recorded from the denervated lamina (lamina A1) were still classifiable into either Y- or X-cells, like those recorded from the non-denervated lamina (lamina A). However, receptive field centers of both Y- and X-cells in the denervated lamina were slightly over twice as large as those of the corresponding classes in the non-denervated lamina. These data indicate that reinnervated relay cells may receive excessive convergent inputs from either Y or X type retinal axons which have grown translaminarly.