In neuroscience, the chemoaffinity hypothesis states that neurons make connections with their targets based on interactions with specific molecular markers[1][unreliable source?]
The markers are generated during cellular differentiation and aid not only with synaptogenesis, but also act as guidance cues for their respective axon.
[1] Roger Wolcott Sperry pioneered the inception of the chemoaffinity hypothesis following his 1960s experiments on the African clawed frog.
[citation needed] Sperry hypothesized that each individual optic nerve and tectal neuron used some form of chemical marker to dictate the connectivity during development.
Sperry reasoned that when the eye had been rotated, each optic fiber and tectal neuron possessed cytochemical labels that uniquely denoted their type and position, and thus optic fibers utilize these labels to selectively navigate to their matching target cell via a sort-of chemotaxis.