Unilateral photoreceptor rescue can improve the ability of the opposite, untreated, eye to drive cortical cells in a retinal degeneration model

2005 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
S.V. GIRMAN ◽  
R.D. LUND
Keyword(s):  
Cell Transplantation ◽  
Royal College ◽  
Visual Stimulation ◽  
Ocular Dominance ◽  
Photoreceptor Degeneration ◽  
Cortical Cells ◽  
Cortical Responses ◽  
Visual Cortical ◽  
Postsynaptic Mechanism ◽  
Stimulation Of

In the Royal College of Surgeons, rat photoreceptor degeneration occurs over the first several months of life, causing deterioration of visual cortical responsiveness seen as greater numbers of cells being nonresponsive to visual stimulation, poor tuning of those cells that do respond, and an overall tendency for domination by the contralateral visual input. If the progress of degeneration in one eye is slowed by intraretinal cell transplantation, cortical responses to stimulation of the remaining, untreated, eye are much stronger, better tuned and histograms of ocular dominance resemble more those in normal rats. This suggests that the rescued eye is able to enhance performance in the untreated eye by some form of postsynaptic mechanism.

Ocular Dominance Peaks at Pinwheel Center Singularities of the Orientation Map in Cat Visual Cortex

1997 ◽  
Vol 77 (6) ◽  
pp. 3381-3385 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael C. Crair ◽  
Edward S. Ruthazer ◽  
Deda C. Gillespie ◽  
Michael P. Stryker
Keyword(s):  
Visual Cortex ◽  
Visual Stimulation ◽  
Ocular Dominance ◽  
Normal Function ◽  
Functional Link ◽  
Orientation Map ◽  
Cat Visual Cortex ◽  
Visual Cortical ◽  
Continuous Orientation ◽  
Stimulation Of

Crair, Michael C., Edward S. Ruthazer, Deda C. Gillespie, and Michael P. Stryker. Ocular dominance peaks at pinwheel center singularities of the orientation map in cat visual cortex. J. Neurophysiol. 77: 3381–3385, 1997. In the primary visual cortex of monkey and cat, ocular dominance and orientation are represented continuously and simultaneously, so that most neighboring neurons respond optimally to visual stimulation of the same eye and orientation. Maps of stimulus orientation are punctuated by singularities referred to as “pinwheel centers,” around which all orientations are represented. Given that the orientation map is mostly continuous, orientation singularities are a mathematical necessity unless the map consists of perfectly parallel rows, and there is no evidence that the singularities play a role in normal function or development. We report here that in cats there is a strong tendency for peaks of ocular dominance to lie on the pinwheel center singularities of the orientation map. This relationship predicts but is not predicted by the tendencies, previously reported, for pinwheels to lie near the center lines of ocular dominance bands and for iso-orientation bands to cross ocular dominance boundaries at right angles. The coincidence of ocular dominance peaks with orientation singularities is likely to reflect a strong underlying functional link between the two visual cortical maps.

Postnatal development of functional properties of visual cortical cells in rats with excitotoxic lesions of basal forebrain cholinergic neurons

1997 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 111-123 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosita Siciliano ◽  
Gigliola Fontanesi ◽  
Fiorella Casamenti ◽  
Nicoletta Berardi ◽  
Paola Bagnoli ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Visual Cortex ◽  
Postnatal Development ◽  
Functional Properties ◽  
Basal Forebrain ◽  
Critical Period ◽  
Ocular Dominance ◽  
Cholinergic Neurons ◽  
Field Size ◽  
Cortical Cells ◽  
Visual Cortical

AbstractIn the rat, visual cortical cells develop their functional properties during a period termed as critical period, which is included between eye opening, i.e.˘postnatal day (PD) 15, and PD40. The present investigation was aimed at studying the influence of cortical cholinergic afferents from the basal forebrain (BF) on the development of functional properties of visual cortical neurons. At PD15, rats were unilaterally deprived of the cholinergic input to the visual cortex by stereotaxic injections of quisqualic acid in BF cholinergic nuclei projecting to the visual cortex. Cortical cell functional properties, such as ocular dominance, orientation selectivity, receptive-field size, and cell responsiveness were then assessed by extracellular recordings in the visual cortex ipsilateral to the lesioned BF both during the critical period (PD30) and after its end (PD45). After the recording session, the rats were sacrificed and the extent of both cholinergic lesion in BF and cholinergic depletion in the visual cortex was determined. Our results show that lesion of BF cholinergic nuclei transiently alters the ocular dominance of visual cortical cells while it does not affect the other functional properties tested. In particular, in lesioned animals recorded during the critical period, a higher percentage of visual cortical cells was driven by the contralateral eye with respect to normal animals. After the end of the critical period, the ocular dominance distribution of animals with cholinergic deafferentation was not significantly different from that of controls. Our results suggest the possibility that lesions of BF cholinergic neurons performed during postnatal development only transiently interfere with cortical competitive processes.

scholarly journals Focal Electrical Stimulation of Cortical Functional Networks

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (10) ◽  
pp. 5532-5543 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jia Ming Hu ◽  
Mei Zhen Qian ◽  
Hisashi Tanigawa ◽  
Xue Mei Song ◽  
Anna Wang Roe
Keyword(s):  
Electrical Stimulation ◽  
Visual Cortex ◽  
Functional Organization ◽  
Visual Stimulation ◽  
Prosthetic Design ◽  
Single Feature ◽  
Selective Targeting ◽  
Visual Cortical ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Stimulation Of

Abstract Traditional electrical stimulation of brain tissue typically affects relatively large volumes of tissue spanning multiple millimeters. This low spatial resolution stimulation results in nonspecific functional effects. In addition, a primary shortcoming of these designs was the failure to take advantage of inherent functional organization in the cerebral cortex. Here, we describe a new method to electrically stimulate the brain which achieves selective targeting of single feature-specific domains in visual cortex. We provide evidence that this paradigm achieves mesoscale, functional network-specificity, and intensity dependence in a way that mimics visual stimulation. Application of this approach to known feature domains (such as color, orientation, motion, and depth) in visual cortex may lead to important functional improvements in the specificity and sophistication of brain stimulation methods and has implications for visual cortical prosthetic design.

Role of visual experience in activating critical period in cat visual cortex

1985 ◽  
Vol 53 (2) ◽  
pp. 572-589 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. D. Mower ◽  
W. G. Christen
Keyword(s):  
Visual Cortex ◽  
Visual Experience ◽  
Ocular Dominance ◽  
Orientation Selectivity ◽  
Monocular Deprivation ◽  
Total Darkness ◽  
Cortical Cells ◽  
Visual Cortical ◽  
Dark Rearing ◽  
Made In

Cats were reared in total darkness from birth until 4-5 mo of age (DR cats, n = 7) or with very brief visual experience (1 or 2 days) during an otherwise similar period of dark rearing [DR(1) cats, n = 3; DR(2) cats, n = 7]. Single-cell recordings were made in area 17 of visual cortex at the end of this rearing period and/or after a subsequent prolonged period of monocular deprivation. Control observations were made in normal cats (n = 3), cats reared with monocular deprivation from birth (n = 4), and cats monocularly deprived after being reared normally until 4 mo of age (n = 2). After rearing cats in total darkness, the majority of visual cortical cells were binocularly driven and the overall distribution of ocular dominance was not different from that of normal cats. Orientation-selective cells were very rare in dark-reared cats. Monocular deprivation imposed after dark rearing resulted in selective development of connections from the open eye. Most cells were responsive only to the open eye and the majority of these were orientation selective. These results were similar to, though less severe than, those found in cats reared with monocular deprivation from birth. Monocular deprivation imposed after 4 mo of normal rearing did not produce selective development of connections from the open eye in terms of either ocular dominance or orientation selectivity. In DR(1) cats visual cortical physiology was degraded in comparison to dark-reared cats after the rearing period. Most cells were binocularly driven but there was a higher frequency of unresponsive cells and a reduced frequency of orientation-selective cells. Subsequent monocular deprivation resulted in a further decrease in the number of binocularly driven cells and an increase in unresponsive cells. However, it did not produce a bias in favor of the open eye in terms of either ocular dominance or orientation selectivity. In DR(2) cats there was a high incidence of unresponsive cells and a marked loss of binocularly driven cells after the rearing period. Subsequent monocular deprivation failed to produce any significant changes.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Cholinergic and noradrenergic afferents influence the functional properties of the postnatal visual cortex in rats

1999 ◽  
Vol 16 (6) ◽  
pp. 1015-1028 ◽  
Author(s):  
ROSITA SICILIANO ◽  
FRANCESCO FORNAI ◽  
IRENE BONACCORSI ◽  
LUCIANO DOMENICI ◽  
PAOLA BAGNOLI
Keyword(s):  
Visual Cortex ◽  
Functional Properties ◽  
Cortical Neurons ◽  
Developmental Plasticity ◽  
Signal To Noise Ratio ◽  
Ocular Dominance ◽  
Field Size ◽  
Cortical Cells ◽  
Visual Cortical ◽  
Na Depletion

Based on previous evidence that acetylcholine (ACh) and noradrenaline (NA) play a permissive role in developmental plasticity in the kitten visual cortex, we reinvestigated this topic in the postnatal visual cortex of rats with normal vision. In rats, the functional properties of visual cortical cells develop gradually between the second and the sixth postnatal week (Fagiolini et al., 1994). Cortical cholinergic depletion, by basal forebrain (BF) lesions at postnatal day (PD) 15 (eye opening), leads to a transient disturbance in the distribution of ocular dominance (Siciliano et al., 1997). In the present study, we investigated the development of visual cortical response properties following cytotoxic lesions of the locus coeruleus (LC) alone or in combination with lesions of cholinergic BF. The main result is that early NA depletion impairs the orientation selectivity of cortical neurons, causes a slight increase of their receptive-field size, and reduces the signal-to-noise ratio of cell responses. Similar effects are obtained following NA depletion in adult animals, although the effects of adult noradrenergic deafferentation are significantly more severe than those obtained after early NA depletion. Additional cholinergic depletion causes an additional transient change in ocular-dominance distribution similarly to that obtained after cholinergic deafferentation alone. Comparisons between depletion of NA on the one hand and depletion of both NA and ACh on the other suggest that the effects of combined deafferentation on the functional properties studied result from simple linear addition of the effects of depleting each afferent system alone.

scholarly journals Norepinephrine Potentiates and Serotonin Depresses Visual Cortical Responses by Transforming Eligibility Traces

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Su Z Hong ◽  
Lukas Mesik ◽  
Cooper D Grossman ◽  
Jeremiah Y Cohen ◽  
Boram Lee ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ocular Dominance ◽  
Visual Responses ◽  
Ocular Dominance Plasticity ◽  
Biological Relevance ◽  
Cortical Responses ◽  
Reinforced Learning ◽  
Visual Cortical ◽  
Hebbian Mechanisms ◽  
Lasting Change

Reinforcement allows organisms to learn which stimuli predict subsequent biological relevance. Hebbian mechanisms of synaptic plasticity are insufficient to account for reinforced learning because neuromodulators signaling biological relevance are delayed with respect to the neural activity associated with the stimulus. A theoretical solution is the concept of eligibility traces (eTraces), silent synaptic processes elicited by activity which upon arrival of a neuromodulator are converted into a lasting change in synaptic strength. Previously we demonstrated in visual cortical slices the Hebbian induction of eTraces and their conversion into LTP and LTD by the retroactive action of norepinephrine and serotonin Here we show in vivo in V1 that the induction of eTraces and their conversion to LTP/D by norepinephrine and serotonin respectively potentiates and depresses visual responses. We also show that the integrity of this process is crucial for ocular dominance plasticity, a canonical model of experience-dependent plasticity.

The period of susceptibility of visual cortical binocularity to unilateral proprioceptive deafferentation of extraocular muscles

1987 ◽  
Vol 58 (4) ◽  
pp. 795-815 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. Trotter ◽  
Y. Fregnac ◽  
P. Buisseret
Keyword(s):  
Receptive Field ◽  
Ocular Dominance ◽  
Total Sample ◽  
Area 17 ◽  
Large Area ◽  
Cortical Cells ◽  
Similar Reduction ◽  
Adult Cats ◽  
Proprioceptive Afferents ◽  
Visual Cortical

1. The electrophysiological effects of section of extraocular muscle proprioceptive afferents have been investigated in kitten area 17. Extraocular proprioceptive afferents were interrupted by cutting the ophthalmic branch of the fifth trigeminal nerve (V1 nerve) unilaterally in 15 normally reared kittens (NR) between 3 and 12 wk postnatal, in 3 NR adult cats, and in 7 dark-reared (DR) kittens at 6 wk postnatal. Bilateral sections of the V1 nerve were performed in two kittens at 6 wk postnatal. NR kittens were maintained in a normal environment after the section. DR kittens were returned to the darkroom until the recording session. Receptive-field properties of area 17 neurons were studied after a postsurgical delay of 4-7 wk in most NR kittens and of 4 days to 5 wk in DR kittens. In one NR kitten and in the operated adult cats, the delay was 1-2.5 yr. This study is based on a total sample of 1,190 visual cortical units. 2. When performed in NR kittens between 4 and 8 wk of age, the unilateral section of extraocular proprioceptive afferents significantly reduced the proportion of binocular cells: 1 mo after the section of the V1 nerve, half of the visual cortical cells were monocularly activated. A similar reduction in the proportion of binocular cells was also observed in DR kittens operated at 6 wk of age and then maintained in the dark for 5-7 wk. In contrast to the unilateral section, the bilateral section of the V1 nerve performed in 6-wk-old NR kittens did not disrupt cortical binocularity. 3. In 10 of the 22 kittens that had undergone unilateral sections, there was a strong asymmetry in the ocular dominance distribution in favor of one eye. This asymmetry was not related to the side of the section and was the same in both hemispheres for a given kitten. 4. The postsurgical delay played an important role in the appearance of the cortical deficit: binocularity loss was not found within the week following the section but was present 1 mo after the section. This functional impairment appeared to be permanent, since it was still observed 2.5 yr after the section. 5. Cortical cells were classified in two ways on the basis of their receptive-field organization: 1) into S- or C-types (38, 73), and 2) into small area slow (SAS), large area slow (LAS), or Fast (F)-types (42, 57).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Postcritical-period reversal of effects of monocular deprivation on striate cortex cells in the cat

1976 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 501-511 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. E. Kratz ◽  
P. D. Spear
Keyword(s):  
Critical Period ◽  
Time Course ◽  
Striate Cortex ◽  
Visual Stimulation ◽  
Ocular Dominance ◽  
Receptive Fields ◽  
Monocular Deprivation ◽  
Unit Recording ◽  
Functional Connections ◽  
Stimulation Of

1. The possibility that effects of monocular deprivation on cat striate cortex could be reversed after the developmental critical period by removal of the normal eye was investigated. In addition, the time course of any postcriticalperiod reversal was studied. Single-unit recording was conducted in the striate cortex of kittens anesthetized with nitrous oxide.2. Six control kittens were raised with monocular lid suture until they were 4-8 mo old (group MD). In agreement with previous investigators, from 0-10% of the striate cortex cells could be driven by visual stimulation of the deprived eye in these kittens.3. Eleven kittens were raised with monocular lid suture until they were 4-5 mo old, at which time the normal eye was enucleated. In five of these (group MD-DE-immediate), recording was conducted in striate cortex on the day of the enucleation. In these animals, 29-39% of the striate cortex cells could be driven by the deprived eye. In four kittens (group MD-DE-3 mo), the deprived eye remained closed for an additional 3 mo before recording was conducted. In these animals, 17-45% of the striate cortex cells could be driven by the deprived eye. In two kittens (group MD-DE greater than 12 mo), the deprived eye remained closed for 14-15 mo after the normal eye was enucleated. In these kittens, 26-40% of the striate cortex cells could be driven by the deprived eye. Thus, removal of the normal eye after the critical period in monocularly drprived kittens results in a rapid increase in the percent of striate cortex cells that can be driven by visual stimulation of the deprived eye, and there is no further increase in responsiveness over a period of more than a year.4. The receptive-field properties of the cells which responded to the deprived eye following enucleation of the normal eye were usually abnormal; 61% of them had nonspecific receptive fields, 39% of the responsive cells were direction selective, and only 12% were both direction and orientation selective.5. The increase in responsive cells was observed in the striate cortex of both hemispheres. However, the increase was greater in the hemisphere contralateral to the deprived eye. The responsive cells tended to occur in clusters of two to four adjacent cells separated by regions containing nonresponsive cells. These clusters were not related to the horizontal cortical layers; however, they may be related to the ocular dominance columns in striate cortex.6. Several mechanisms were considered for the present findings, including neuronal sprouting, denervation supersensitivity, and release from inhibition. It was suggested that the increased responsiveness to the deprived eye was probably not the result of rapid sprouting in the 4- to 5-mo-old kittens. If this is so, then the results indicate that functional connections from the deprived layers of the DLG to the striate cortex remain following rearing with monocular deprivation...

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