Cover Picture: Blood vessels in the primary visual cortex (V1) of the New World monkey Callithrix jacchus. Vessels are visualized by histochemical detection of alkaline phosphatase activity in endothelial cells. Cytochrome oxidase histochemistry is used to reveal, on the same sections, levels of laminar cortical activity. High metabolic activity is present in layer IVC of V1 which is the primary cortical target of visual information from the retina and relayed through thalamic afferents. Such property is reflected by the highest vessel density found in layer IVC compared with other layers. This laminar pattern in vascularization exists both in newborns and adults. However, angiogenesis proceeds differently in the magno- and parvocellular compartments of layer IVC during the first postnatal months, running parallel to synaptogenesis and neuronal maturation. See Fonta and Imbert, pp. 199-211.
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