Neuroanatomy of the human visual system: Part I Retinal projections to the LGN and pretectum as demonstrated with a new method

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Abstract
The neuroanatomy of experimental animals has been extensively investigated with studies which have employed sophisticated histological and physiological techniques. However, there has been very little information on human neuroanatomy since these techniques have been largely inapplicable to human brains. In particular, silver staining techniques have not been as successfully applied in human brains since they require precise, short survival times. A staining method (PPD) has been developed which permits the tracing of the degenerated fibers in the human brain even after very long survival periods. Applying this method to postmortem brains from patients with old ocular pathology, the author was able to demonstrate projections from the retina to the lateral geniculate nucleus and the pretectum in man. Transsynaptic changes seen in the lateral geniculate following long-term deafferentation are best described as atrophy, not degeneration. The PPD method is a simple and reliable technique that can be used in conjunction with electron microscopy in delineating the neuroanatomy of the human visual system.