Ocular Dominance Columns Revealed by Autoradiography

Abstract This chapter presents a paper entitled “Autoradiographic demonstration of ocular dominance columns in the monkey striate cortex by means of transneuronal transport”. In the macaque monkey, the geniculostriate pathway terminates in a very dense, highly localized manner, mainly in layer IV C. Projections from the two eyes end in a characteristic alternating stripe-like pattern of ocular dominance columns. If radioactive substances were transported transneuronally, injection of labeled material into one eye followed by autoradiography of the cortex might reveal the entire system of ocular dominance columns. This study confirmed Grafstein's original findings of transneuronal transport in the mammalian visual system and provided an additional independent demonstration of the ocular dominance columns in the striate cortex.