A quantitiative study of the occurrence and distribution of cytoplasmic laminated bodies in the lateral geniculate nucleus of the normal adult cat

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Abstract
The proportion of neurons containing cytoplasmic laminated bodies (CLB) in the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus (dLGN) of normal cats was determined by using a new method which permitted examination of large areas of this nucleus. Near the medial border of the dLGN (projection of the area centralis) in the A‐laminae 30–60% of the neurons contain CLBs. Within the same region in lamina B only 10–30% of the nerve cells contain CLBs. In the monocular segment (MS) of lamina A 27–48% of the nerve cells contain CLBs. In the medial interlaminar nucleus (MIN) 25% of the neurons contain CLBs; these cells were distributed throughout the medio‐lateral extent of the MIN. CLBs were also observed in neurons of the perigeniculate nucleus (PN) and in nerve cells embedded in the fiber sheet separating the dLGN from the pulvinar complex. The distribution of cells containing CLBs is extremely variable in all portions of the dLGN studied. The data presented in this paper indicate that CLB‐containing cells in the dLGN may not be X‐cells, as has been suggested by LeVay and Ferster ('77) because: (1) the distribution of neurons containing CLBs in lamina A does not match the distribution of X‐cells recorded in this lamina; (2) some nerve cells in the MIN contain CLBs but very few X‐cells have been found in this region.