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The Journal of Neuroscience, December 14, 2005, 25(50):11595-11604; doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2837-05.2005

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Development/Plasticity/Repair
Brn3a-Expressing Retinal Ganglion Cells Project Specifically to Thalamocortical and Collicular Visual Pathways

Lely A. Quina,1 Winnie Pak,2 Jason Lanier,1 Premilla Banwait,1 Kevin Gratwick,1 Ying Liu,1 Tomoko Velasquez,2 Dennis D. M. O'Leary,2 Martyn Goulding,2 and Eric E. Turner1

1Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego and Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System, La Jolla, California 92093-0603, and 2Molecular Neurobiology Laboratory, The Salk Institute, La Jolla, California 92037

Retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) innervate several specific CNS targets serving cortical and subcortical visual pathways and the entrainment of circadian rhythms. Recent studies have shown that retinal ganglion cells express specific combinations of POU- and LIM-domain transcription factors, but how these factors relate to the subsequent development of the retinofugal pathways and the functional identity of RGCs is mostly unknown. Here, we use targeted expression of an genetic axonal tracer, tau/{beta}-galactosidase, to examine target innervation by retinal ganglion cells expressing the POU-domain factor Brn3a. Brn3a is expressed in RGCs innervating the principal retinothalamic/retinocollicular pathway mediating cortical vision but is not expressed in RGCs of the accessory optic, pretectal, and hypothalamic pathways serving subcortical visuomotor and circadian functions. In the thalamus, Brn3a ganglion cell fibers are primarily restricted to the outer shell of the dorsal lateral geniculate, providing new evidence for the regionalization of this nucleus in rodents. Brn3a RGC axons have a relative preference for the contralateral hemisphere, but known mediators of the laterality of RGC axons are not repatterned in the absence of Brn3a. Brn3a is coexpressed extensively with the closely related factor Brn3b in the embryonic retina, and the effects of the loss of Brn3a in retinal development are not severe, suggesting partial redundancy of function in this gene class.

Key words: retina; retinal ganglion cell; lateral geniculate; accessory optic system; pretectum; superior colliculus; POU-domain; Brn3; Brn3a; Brn3b

Received July 10, 2005; revised November 3, 2005; accepted November 4, 2005.
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