Neuronal activity in the lateral geniculate nucleus associated with ponto-geniculo-occipital waves lacks lamina specificity

Ponto-geniculo-occipital (PGO) waves are spontaneously occurring field pote ntials recorded in the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) just prior t o and during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. Facilitated discharge rates of LGN neurons are associated with PGO waves. In kittens during the critical period of visual system development, both visual experience and PGO waves a ppear capable of influencing the course of development through activity-dep endent mechanisms. Retinal innervation of LGN segregates into eye-specific laminae and is critical to supporting the role of binocular visual experien ce in development. We sought to determine whether neuronal activity associa ted with PGO waves also exhibits lamina specificity. PGO wave-related disch arges were examined in LGN neurons identified as to lamina location in adul t cats administered urethane anesthesia and the reserpine-like compound, RO 4-1284. Spontaneous activity of LGN neurons was related to the occurrence o f PGO-like waves in all cells studied. No factors could be found that diffe rentiated lamina location and PGO wave-related discharges. We conclude that the PGO wave influence on neuronal activity in the visual system is fundam entally different from that derived from visual experience. The implication s of this difference for the role of the two sources of activation in the c ontrol of neural activity in development are discussed. (C) 1999 Elsevier S cience B.V. All rights reserved.