Fig 1.
(A) Map of the AAV-flex-plap vector that expresses alkaline phosphatase in a Cre-dependent manner (see methods for detailed description). (B, C) Representative flat-mount retinas from an Opn4cre mouse that received intravitreal injection into the right eye. (B) Retina from the injected right eye. (C) Retina from the non-injected left eye. Scale bar: 200 um.
Fig 2.
Central targets of mRGCs in the brain.
Representative coronal sections (rostral to caudal) from the brains of Opn4cre mice with intravitreal injection of AAV-flex-plap into the right eye. Left panels in each row are low-power images of brain sections processed to visualize alkaline phosphate. The next panel in each row is an image of an adjacent brain section stained for Cytochrome Oxidase. Some insets are composite montages of several images (D, E, F). See Table 1 for nomenclature. Scale bar: 200 μm (inset, 100 μm). Ipsilateral and contralateral sides of the brains are labeled. Note that HDB and MPA areas appear on the “contralateral”, right side of the section. Since these sections are rostral to the chiasm, one might think fibers in HDB and MPA should be on the ipsilateral side. However, we have traced these fibers back to the chiasm and find that they have indeed crossed over from the ipsilateral side and projected in the rostral direction.
Fig 3.
Central targets of mRGCs in the brain.
Representative coronal sections (rostral to caudal) from the brains of Opn4cre mice with intravitreal injection of AAV-flex-plap into the right eye. Left panels in each row are low-power images of brain sections processed to visualize alkaline phosphate. The next panel in each row is an image of an adjacent brain section stained for Cytochrome Oxidase. See Table 1 for nomenclature. Scale bar: 200 μm (inset, 100 μm).
Table 1.
Abbreviations used in the text and in the figures.
Table 2.
Compilation of frequency of innervation by PLAP-positive fibers.
Fig 4.
Projections of mRGCs to accessory optic system.
Four representative coronal sections show the projections of mRGCs to the accessory optic system and the superior colliculus. Note these sections contained dark crystal-like puncta we believe are salt crystals that were not adequately washed out during slide preparation. Based on color and positional differences, we felt comfortable differentiating between these artifacts and the purple/blue PLAP reaction products. Scale bar: 200 μm.