[Changes in the neurons of the lateral geniculate body under the effect of prolonged darkness (cytochemical study)].

With the aid of the cytospectrophotometry method the author studied the influence of light deprivation (the exposure of animals to darkness during 8 weeks following birth) on neurons of the dorsal nucleus of the external geniculate body of rats according to the index of glutamatedehydrogenase activity. It was established that unlike the visual cortex, separate groups of neurons which react differently to light deprivation, the majority of nervous cells in the external geniculate body demonstrate similar changes: a drop in the medium activity of glutamatdehydrogenase in neurons and its neurological satellites, a shift of neuron histograms according to this index to the left. These changes are accompanied by an increase of smaller neurons as compared to normal, as well as a drop in the amount of neurons with satellites. The found differences of reactions to light deprivation between the cortical neurons and switch areas of the visual analyzer are discussed in the light of functional traits of such neurons.