GLIA, NEURONS, AND AXON PATHFINDING DURING OPTIC CHIASM DEVELOPMENT

The importance of vision in the behavior of animals, from invertebrate s to primates, has led to a good deal of interest in how projection ne urons in the retina make specific connections with targets in the brai n, Recent research has focused on the cellular interactions occurring between retinal ganglion cell (RGC) axons and specific glial and neuro nal populations in the embryonic brain during formation of the mouse o ptic chiasm. These interactions appear to be involved both in determin ing the position of the optic chiasm on the ventral diencephalon (pres umptive hypothalamus) and in ipsilateral and contralateral RGC axon pa thfinding, developmental events fundamental to binocular vision in the adult animal.