The visual system of cetaceans is at best poorly understood. With a handful of electrophysiological studies and a limited number of histological preparations from well-preserved specimen, the investigation of the principles underlying the cortical organization in cetaceans remains a challenge. In the course of our current investigation, we identified the transition from V2 to V1 in the long-finned pilot whale Globicephala melas, only recognizable through immunocytochemistry, and a similar if not homologue transition in the sheep Ovis aries. Our results emphasize the importance of differential pattern recognition in which the application of different markers uncovers a diversity in a delphinid's cortex, formerly widely considered as uniform and archetypal. In fact, the evidence that we present suggests the existence of relatively unacknowledged areas beyond the well-known sensory territories in cetaceans.
Topographical and structural characterization of the V1-V2 transition zone in the visual cortex of the long-finned pilot whale Globicephala melas (Traill, 1809)
Jean-Marie Graic
;Antonella Peruffo;Bruno Cozzi
2021
Abstract
The visual system of cetaceans is at best poorly understood. With a handful of electrophysiological studies and a limited number of histological preparations from well-preserved specimen, the investigation of the principles underlying the cortical organization in cetaceans remains a challenge. In the course of our current investigation, we identified the transition from V2 to V1 in the long-finned pilot whale Globicephala melas, only recognizable through immunocytochemistry, and a similar if not homologue transition in the sheep Ovis aries. Our results emphasize the importance of differential pattern recognition in which the application of different markers uncovers a diversity in a delphinid's cortex, formerly widely considered as uniform and archetypal. In fact, the evidence that we present suggests the existence of relatively unacknowledged areas beyond the well-known sensory territories in cetaceans.File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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Graic et al. - Anat Rec (2020).pdf
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