Neuron types and organisation of the rabbit dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus.

The Golgi technique was employed in order to study the types of neurons composing the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus and to elucidate its organisational features in the rabbit. Four types of neurons were identified based on differences in perikaryon size or the particular features of their dendrites and dendritic appendages. Types 1 and 2 were comparable to the relay cells previously identified in functional and morphological studies in other mammals as projecting upon the visual cortex. Type 3 cells were morphologically identified as interneurons. Type 4 neurons, not described in detail in the present paper, were observed along the nuclear periphery underlying the optic tract. Types 1 and 2 neurons along with their dendritic trees were orientated in planes which converged radially in the anteromedial region of the nucleus. Retinal afferent fibres from the optic tract traversed the nucleus as part of a longitudinal fibre system, running parallel to the planes of cell orientation, to establish synapses with the relay neurons.