Multiple sets of visual cortical neurons projecting transitorily through the corpus callosum.

In areas 17 and 18 of adult cats only a few neurons send bifurcating axons to more than one contralateral area or to areas in both hemispheres; most neurons seem to project to only one area. We now found that such a selective connectivity is already present at birth, i.e. several weeks before transitory callosal axons are eliminated. This is true even for those portions of cortex which will lose access to the corpus callosum: in particular different neurons project transitorily from medial area 17 to different contralateral areas. Thus cortical neurons may be induced to project to specific targets by a mechanism operating long before (and possibly independent of) the axon elimination. The latter may, however, be responsible for the final topographic organization of the connections.