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Capricious expression of cortical columns in the primate brain

Nature Neuroscience volume 6, pages 113–114 (2003)Cite this article

Abstract

Columns are widely thought be the elementary functional module of the cerebral cortex1, but their exact purpose remains unknown. In a group of 12 normal squirrel monkeys, we have found enormous variability in the expression of ocular dominance columns. This finding implies that ocular dominance columns are not vital for any specific function, at least in this species.

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Figure 1: Variable appearance of ocular dominance columns in normal squirrel monkeys.
Figure 2: Absence of ocular dominance columns.
Figure 3: Ocular dominance columns can be present in only part of striate cortex.

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Acknowledgements

We thank L.C. Sincich and V.B. Mountcastle for comments. Animals were provided by the California Regional Primate Research Center. The research was supported by the NEI, Research to Prevent Blindness, That Man May See and the Bunter Fund. We thank D.R. Hocking for technical assistance and L.C. Sincich for the use of his Matlab code.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Beckman Vision Center, University of California at San Francisco, 10 Kirkham Street, San Francisco, 94143-0730, California, USA

    Daniel L. Adams & Jonathan C. Horton

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  1. Daniel L. Adams
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  2. Jonathan C. Horton
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Correspondence to Daniel L. Adams.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Fig. 1.

[3H]proline labeling and CO labeling of ocular dominance columns is equivalent. Compare the autoradiographic montages in (a) and (b) to the CO montages prepared from layer 4C of the same cortices (Fig. 1b and c). Sections of layer 4C processed for autoradiography yield a pattern of columns identical to those obtained from CO staining of alternate sections, indicating that CO is a valid method for labeling ocular dominance columns. Because [3H]proline and CO produced the same results, we double-labeled the columns in only three animals. (JPG 26 kb)

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Adams, D., Horton, J. Capricious expression of cortical columns in the primate brain. Nat Neurosci 6, 113–114 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn1004

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