Distribution of non-phosphorylated neurofilament in squirrel monkey V1 is complementary to the pattern of cytochrome-oxidase blobs.

The geniculo-recipient zones of the primate primary visual cortex (V1) stain more strongly for cytochrome oxidase (CO) than other regions. Labeling V1 with an antibody (SMI-32) against neurofilament protein produces a laminar pattern that is largely complementary to that of CO: the layers that receive the strongest geniculate input react weakly for SMI-32. We evaluated whether the complementary laminar relationship extends throughout the superficial layers where there are regularly spaced blobs of dark CO staining that are known to receive geniculate input. In all hemispheres, neurofilament labeling in the superficial layers was indeed complementary to the CO pattern. The density of SMI-32 labeled neurons was quantified and found to be greater within the CO interblobs than in the blobs. These results demonstrate that blobs and interblobs can be distinguished by examining the pattern of neurofilament expression in V1. That neurofilament expression is highest within interblobs raises the possibility that the distribution of cell types may be non-uniform across blobs and interblobs.