Regenerating optic axons restore topography after incomplete optic nerve injury.

Following complete optic nerve injury in a lizard, Ctenophorus ornatus, retinal ganglion cell (RGC) axons regenerate but fail to restore retinotectal topography unless animals are trained on a visual task (Beazley et al. [ 1997] J Comp Neurol 370:105-120, [2003] J Neurotrauma 20:1263-1270). Here we show that incomplete injury, which leaves some RGC axons intact, restores normal topography.