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Stop Animal Exploitation NOW!
S. A. E. N.
"Exposing the truth to wipe out animal experimentation"

Government Grants Promoting Cruelty to Animals

Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN

VIVIEN A. CASAGRANDE - Primate Testing - 2006

Grant Number: 5R01EY001778-30
Project Title: Visual System Organization and Development
PI Information: PROFESSOR VIVIEN A. CASAGRANDE, [email protected] 

Abstract: DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant):
In our working model of visual information processing, we hypothesize that there are three segregated parallel pathways [magnocellular (M), parvocellular (P), and koniocelIular (K)] from the lateral genicuIate nucleus (LGN) to primary visual cortex (V1), forming both dedicated and multi-functional systems and networks. Within this scheme, separate output layers and compartments of V1 have distinct modes for utilizing signals from all three input pathways and generating output signals that contribute to the dynamics and functional maps of extrastriate areas. In light of this model, the major effort of our project is to understand how parallel LGN pathways in primates contributes to the properties of V1 and its extrastriate targets. This proposal focuses on all three LGN relays and how their inputs affect V1 and higher visual centers, but places added emphasis on the K pathway considering the fact that it has been, until recently, largely ignored. Our specific aims are designed to test hypotheses generated by our working model. In Aim I, we will determine the number of physiologically distinct K channels and the classes of retinal ganglion ceils that project to K LGN layers. In Aim II, we will determine the relationship between LGN relay cells and the dynamics and functional maps found within V1. In Aim III, we will apply the same techniques utilized in Aim II to determine how LGN relays contribute to the dynamics and functional maps found within extrastriate areas V2, V3, and DM/V3a. The results of our proposed studies will contribute important new information to our understanding of the fundamentals of how the brain processes visual information and of brain architecture in general.

Thesaurus Terms:
developmental neurobiology, lateral geniculate body, neural information processing, visual cortex, visual pathway brain electrical activity, eye movement, neuronal transport, retinal ganglion, visual deprivation, visual perception Aotus, Callithricidae, Macaca, Prosimii, brain imaging /visualization /scanning, electron microscopy, electrophysiology, experimental brain lesion, histology, single cell analysis

Institution: VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY
Medical Center, NASHVILLE, TN 372036869
Fiscal Year: 2006
Department: CELL AND DEVELOPMENTAL BIOLOGY
Project Start: 01-FEB-1978
Project End: 31-MAR-2008
ICD: NATIONAL EYE INSTITUTE
IRG: VISB

J Neurophysiol 95: 3401-3413, 2006. First published March 1, 2006

Low-Threshold Ca2+-Associated Bursts Are Rare Events in the LGN of the Awake Behaving Monkey
 

Octavio Ruiz1,*, David Royal2,*, Gyula S�ry4, Xin Chen1, Jeffrey D. Schall2,3 and Vivien A. Casagrande1,2,3

1Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, 2Institutes of Cognitive, Integrative and Molecular Neuroscience and 3Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee; and 4Department of Physiology, University of Szeged, Szeged, Hungary
 
Submitted 4 January 2006; accepted in final form 22 February 2006

Subjects and LGN localization
Three male bonnet macaque monkeys (Macaca radiata, 6.0�8.0 kg) were used in this study. Because the methods for locating the LGN are described in detail elsewhere (Royal et al. 2006 ), only a short summary is presented here. We used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) maps to position a recording chamber over the LGN. All the procedures, care and training of the monkeys conformed to the guidelines of the National Institutes of Health Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals and the guidelines of the Vanderbilt University Animal Care and Use Committee under an approved protocol.

Surgery
Attachment of the recording chamber, the head post, and eye coil were performed under sterile conditions under general anesthesia (either ketamine and xylazine or 1.5�3% isofluorane in O2 as described in detail in Royal et al. (2006 ). Briefly, this involved securing head posts and wells with titanium screws and dental cement, and implanting an eye coil under the conjunctiva of the right eye (Judge et al. 1980 ).

Recording
Monkeys were seated in a primate chair in front of a computer monitor, within a frame generating a magnetic field received by the eye-coil. The head of the monkey was fixed by means of a head post attachment to the chair. Single-unit recordings were made with Parylene-coated tungsten microelectrodes (1�3 M ; FHC). The cellular activity was amplified and band-pass filtered, and spikes were discriminated with an amplitude-and-time window discriminator (BAK Instruments, Mount Airy, MD). A PC-based system running Tempo (Reflective Computing, St. Louis, MO) was used to control experiments, present stimuli, and store analog eye-position data and digital spike-timing data. Eye-position and neuronal activity were sampled at 250 Hz and 1 kHz, respectively. 

Please email:  VIVIEN A. CASAGRANDE, [email protected] to protest the inhumane use of animals in this experiment. We would also love to know about your efforts with this cause: [email protected]

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Rats, mice, birds, amphibians and other animals have been excluded from coverage by the Animal Welfare Act. Therefore research facility reports do not include these animals. As a result of this situation, a blank report, or one with few animals listed, does not mean that a facility has not performed experiments on non-reportable animals. A blank form does mean that the facility in question has not used covered animals (primates, dogs, cats, rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters, pigs, sheep, goats, etc.). Rats and mice alone are believed to comprise over 90% of the animals used in experimentation. Therefore the majority of animals used at research facilities are not even counted.

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