spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


spacer gif
     Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents    

First published online 23 June 2004
doi: 10.1242/dev.01212

Development 131, 3559-3570 (2004)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2004
This Article
Right arrow Figures Only
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Supplemental Figure
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
dev.01212v1
dev.01212v2
dev.01212v3
131/15/3559    most recent
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Naska, S.
Right arrow Articles by Maffei, L.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Naska, S.
Right arrow Articles by Maffei, L.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

ERK signaling is required for eye-specific retino-geniculate segregation

Sibel Naska1,*,{dagger}, Maria Cristina Cenni2, Elisabetta Menna2 and Lamberto Maffei1,2

1 Scuola Normale Superiore, piazza dei Cavalieri 7, 56100 Pisa, Italy
2 Istituto di Neuroscienze del CNR, via G. Moruzzi 1, 56100 Pisa, Italy

{dagger} Author for correspondence (e-mail: sibel.naska{at}sickkids.ca)

Accepted 8 April 2004

In the mammalian visual system, retinal ganglion cell (RGC) projections from each eye, initially intermixed within the dorsal-lateral geniculate nucleus (dLGN), become segregated during the early stages of development, occupying distinct eye-specific layers. Electrical activity has been suggested to play a role in this process; however, the cellular mechanisms underlying eye-specific segregation are not yet defined. It is known that electrical activity is among the strongest activators of the extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) pathway. Moreover, the ERK pathway is involved in the plasticity of neural connections during development. We examine the role of ERK in the segregation of retinal afferents into eye-specific layers in the dLGN. The activation of this signaling cascade was selectively blocked along the retino-thalamic circuitry by specific inhibitors, and the distribution of RGC fibers in the dLGN was studied. Our results demonstrate that the blockade of ERK signaling prevents eye-specific segregation in the dLGN, providing evidence that ERK pathway is required for the proper development of retino-geniculate connections. Of particular interest is the finding that ERK mediates this process both at the retinal and geniculate level.

Key words: Visual system development, Retinal ganglion cell, Retino-geniculate segregation, ERK pathway


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 J. Neurophysiol.Home page
J. Ziburkus and W. Guido
Loss of Binocular Responses and Reduced Retinal Convergence During the Period of Retinogeniculate Axon Segregation
J Neurophysiol, November 1, 2006; 96(5): 2775 - 2784.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


© The Company of Biologists Ltd 2004