A comparative histochemical study of cytochrome oxidase (CO) activity in the superior colliculus (SC) of intact laboratory rats and animals with unilaterally lesioned inner ear cochlea was carried out. It was shown that distribution of CO activity in the SC of intact rats corresponded to its cytoarchitectonic laminar organization had a heterogeneous distribution between layers and homogeneous distribution inside the layers. Unilateral lesion of the inner ear cochlea results in the appearance of alternating columns with low and high CO activity in the medial complex layers and deep gray layer; these columns are directed mediolaterally and differentiated bilaterally. The appearance of the CO columns seems to be due to the spatially arranged organization of afferents coming onto SC from auditory structures.