Retinotectal map formation in dually innervated tecta: a regeneration study in Xenopus with one compound eye following bilateral optic nerve section.

Retinotectal map formation was studied during regeneration in young adult Xenopus. Right compound double-temporal eyes (TT) were formed in tailbud stage embryos by the fusion of two temporal halves of the eye blastema in the same orbit. In other animals right compound double-nasal eyes (NN) were prepared. In both combinations the left eye was kept intact. After metamorphosis the right and left optic nerves were sectioned to induce optic fiber regeneration from each eye to both tecta. The patterns of retinotectal projections from the compound and normal eyes were studied from 37 to 364 days after optic nerve section, using electrophysiological recording of the visuotectal projections and 3H-proline autoradiographic assay from one of the two eyes. The left normal eyes projected in a retinotopic fashion, across the entire extent of the right and left dually innervated tecta. In contrast, the right compound eye projections were confined to the rostrolateral or to the caudomedial part of the right and left tecta and TT and NN animals, respectively. These tectal areas corresponded to the termination of temporal and nasal hemiretinal fibers of the normal eye. Discontinuous, interdigitating projection patterns from the right and left eyes were found in parts of the tecta where the compound and the normal eye projections overlapped. These results indicate that the normal optic fiber projections caused the originally expanded compound eye projections to be restricted to the corresponding part of the dually innervated tecta. It is suggested that the orderliness and the extent of the retinotectal map are established by the competition and interaction of optic fibers based on stable positional programming of the retinal ganglion cells.