Journal of Neuroscience, Vol 5, 930-940, Copyright © 1985 by Society for Neuroscience
Development of the ipsilateral retinothalamic projection in the frog Xenopus laevis. III. The role of thyroxine
SG Hoskins and P Grobstein
The ipsilateral retinothalamic projection in Xenopus laevis normally first
appears at about stage 54, at a time when a number of other changes known
to be dependent on a rise in circulating levels of thyroxine begin to
occur. We have investigated the role of thyroxine in the development of the
ipsilateral retinothalamic projection by studying retinal projections and
patterns of retinal histogenesis in tadpoles whose ability to produce
thyroxine was blocked by treatment with propylthiouracil (PTU), and in
similar tadpoles in which thyroxine was restored by injection of small
amounts of thyroxine into one eye. PTU-reared tadpoles continue to grow and
to add neurons to the retina in a symmetric pattern like that of normal
tadpoles at early developmental stages. The PTU-reared tadpoles remained by
external criteria at stage 54. Like normal stage 54 tadpoles, the
PTU-reared tadpoles either lacked an ipsilateral projection entirely or had
an extremely sparse projection. Injection of thyroxine into one eye of PTU-
reared tadpoles resulted in the production of substantial ipsilateral
projections from the treated eyes as well as shifts to the asymmetric
pattern of retinal cell addition which normally begins after stage 54. Such
changes were much more prominent in hormone-treated than in untreated eyes,
suggesting that they are caused by local action of thyroxine on the treated
eyes. With low doses, thyroxine-induced effects on the development of the
ipsilateral projection and on retinal histogenesis were restricted to the
treated eye. These results suggest that the presence of thyroxine in one
eye alone is sufficient to cause the development of the ipsilateral
projection.