Effect of temperature on rate of goldfish optic nerve regeneration: a radioautographic and behavioral study.

Optic nerve regeneration was examined in goldfish radioautographically, as well as by a variety of behavioral measures of visual function. The rate of regeneration was markedly enhanced by increasing temperature above the ambient level (20 degrees C). The earliest functional indication of recovery was the appearance of an autonomic response to a change in illumination, then the ability to localize food visually and at a still later time, an optomotor response. Even the early behavioral indications of return of function appeared some time after there was radioautographic evidence that the tectum had been reinnervated.