Neurogenetic gradients in the superior and inferior colliculi of the rhesus monkey.

The spatiotemporal patterns of neurogenesis in the superior colliculus (SC) and inferior colliculus (IC) were analyzed by plotting the positions of heavily labeled neurons in autoradiograms from a series of rhesus monkeys that had been exposed to 3H-thymidine at various embryonic (E) days and killed either shortly thereafter or at 2-3 months postnatally. Tectal neurons in this species are generated in the ventricular and subventricular zones surrounding the mesocoele (future Sylvian aqueduct) within the first third of the 165-day gestation period. Cells destined for the SC undergo final mitosis from E30 to E56, with peak proliferation from E38 to E43. These cells exhibit only a weak ventrodorsal gradient of neurogenesis and virtually no mediolateral or rostrocaudal gradients. Genesis of the neurons of the central nucleus (CN) of the IC also occurs between E30 and E56 and peaks around E43; but in contrast to cells of the SC, CN cells exhibit distinct rostrocaudal, lateromedial, and ventrodorsal gradients of genesis. Quantitative analysis revealed that whereas neurogenesis of the SC proceeds with about equal strength along the three cardinal axes, in the CN the lateral-medial gradient is significantly stronger than the anterior-posterior gradient. In addition, both the lateral-medial and ventral-dorsal IC gradients are significantly stronger than any SC gradients. Analysis of embryos sacrificed at short intervals following 3H-thymidine injection shows that the gradients are not caused by secondary lateral cell movement or by selective cell death. Thus, these findings suggest that within the generative zone of the midbrain tectum significant regional differences exist which result in distinctive spatiotemporal patterns of proliferation for the neurons of the primate superior and inferior colliculi.