On the Structure of the Human Striate Area

Primary cortical areas receive a defmed input which makes them especially appropria- te for investigating cortical functions. The striate area is the only isocortical field which can be delineated unequivocally in the human brain. Nevertheless, there have been only a few morphological studies of this particular area (cytoarchitectonic studies: Bailey and Von Bonin 1951, Beck 1934, Von Economo and Koskinas 1925, Filimo- noff 1932; myeloarchitectonic studies: Sanides and Vitzthum 1965, Vogt and Vogt 1919; pigmentoarchitectonic studies: Braak H 1976, 1977). For Golgi impregnations, Ramon y Cajal (1900, 1909-1911), Conel (1939-1967), and Shkol'nik-Yarros (1971) preferred the incompletely myelinated material taken from brains of young childre- a fact that somewhat restricts their descriptions of the human striate area. Pigment preparations (Braak H 1978) provide a detailed view of the lamination of cortical areas. Furthermore, many types of cortical nerve cells reveal a typicallipofus- cin-pigment pattern (Braak H 1974a). Thus, a correlation can be drawn between the type of neuron as classified in Golgi preparations and the characteristic number and distribution of lipofuscin granules found in the cell body. Neurolipofuscin granules can therefore be considered the internal markers. In this study several cell types of the striate area have been identified under light and electron microscopes by means of their characteristic pigmentation.