Figure 1

Bilateral enucleation impacts gene expression in the dLGN. In situ RNA hybridization was used to determine the distribution of transcripts for (A1-A2) ephrin A5, (B1-B2) Id2, (C1-C2) Cad8 and (D1-D2) COUP-TF1 at P10 in control (A1-D1) and enucleated (A2-D2) mouse brains. All panels are high magnification views of the dLGN and surrounding regions of the dorsal thalamus of one hemisphere after sectioning at 100 μm in the coronal plane. Arrows indicate the dLGN. Ephrin A5 is expressed in a gradient in the dLGN at this age that is highest in ventrolateral regions (A1). Enucleation leads to a reduced area of expression of ephrin A5 in the nucleus (A2). The expression of Id2 is weak but uniform throughout the dLGN (B1), and this expression area is reduced in size by enucleation (B2). Cad8 expression in the dLGN was weak at this age in the control (C1) and absent in the enucleated brain (C2). COUP-TF1 expression was detected at moderate levels throughout the dLGN (D1) and the region of dLGN expression was reduced following enucleation (D2). Panels A2-D2 demonstrate dLGN shrinkage after enucleation. All sections are oriented with dorsal (D) up and lateral (L) to the right. Scale bar = 500 μm. Cad8: Cadherin-8; COUP-TFI: chicken ovalbumin upstream promoter transcription factor 1; dLGN: dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus; Id2: inhibitor of DNA binding 2; P: postnatal day.