Summary
Fifteen dark-reared, 4- to 5-week-old kittens were stimulated monocularly with patterned light while they were anesthetized and paralyzed. Six of these kittens were exposed to the light stimuli only, in four kittens the light stimuli were paired with electric stimulation of the mesencephalic reticular formation and in five kittens with electric activation of the medial thalamic nuclei. Throughout the conditioning period, the ocular dominance of neurons in the visual cortex was determined from evoked potentials that were elicited either with electric stimulation of the optic nerves or with phase reversing gratings of variable spatial frequencies. In two kittens, ocular dominance changes were assessed after the end of the conditioning period by analyzing single unit receptive fields. Monocular stimulation with patterned light induced a marked shift of ocular dominance toward the stimulated eye, when the light stimulus was paired with electric activation of either the mesencephalic reticular formation or of the medial thalamus. Moreover, a substantial fraction of cells acquired mature receptive fields. No such changes occurred with light or electric stimulation alone. It is concluded that central core projections which modulate cortical excitability gate experience-dependent modifications of connections in the kitten visual cortex.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Buisseret P, Gary-Bobo E (1979) Development of visual cortical orientation specificity after dark-rearing: Role of extraocular proprioception. Neurosci Lett 13: 259–263
Buisseret P, Imbert M (1976) Visual cortical cells: Their developmental properties in normal and dark reared kittens. J Physiol (Lond) 255: 511–525
Buisseret P, Gary-Bobo E, Imbert M (1978) Ocular motility and recovery of orientational properties of visual cortical neurones in dark-reared kittens. Nature 272: 816–817
Burke W, Cole AM (1978) Extraretinal influences on the lateral geniculate nucleus. Rev Physiol Biochem Pharmacol 80: 105–166
Creutzfeldt OD, Heggelund P (1975) Neural plasticity in visual cortex of adult cats after exposure to visual patterns. Science 188: 1025–1027
Freeman RD, Olson CR (1979) Is these a ‘consolidation’ effect for monocular deprivation? Nature 282: 404–406
Freeman RD, Bonds AB (1979) Cortical plasticity in monocularly deprived immobilized kittens depends on eye movement. Science 206: 1093–1095
Fregnac Y, Imbert M (1978) Early development of visual cortical cells in normal and dark-reared kittens: Relationship between orientation selectivity and ocular dominance. J Physiol (Lond) 278: 27–44
Hebb DO (1949) The organization of behaviour. Wiley & Sons, New York
Hobson JA, Scheibel JA (1980) The brainstem core: Sensorimotor integration and behavioral state control. Neurosci Res Program Bull 18: MIT Press, Cambridge
Hubel DH, Wiesel TN (1963) Receptive fields of cells in striate cortex of very young, visually inexperienced kittens. J Neurophysiol 26: 994–1002
Kasamatsu T, Pettigrew JD (1976) Depletion of brain catecholamines: Failure of ocular dominance shift after monocular occlusion in kittens. Science 194: 206–209
Kasamatsu T, Pettigrew JD (1979) Preservation of binocularity after monocular deprivation in the striate cortex of kittens treated with 6-hydroxydopamine. J Comp Neurol 185: 139–162
Kasamatsu T, Pettigrew JD, Ary M (1979) Restoration of visual cortical plasticity by local microperfusion of norepinephrine. J Comp Neurol 185: 163–181
Mitzdorf U, Singer W (1980) Monocular activation of visual cortex in normal and monocularly deprived cats: An analysis of evoked potentials. J Physiol (Lond) 304: 203–220
Peck CK, Blakemore C (1975) Modification of single neurons in the kitten's visual cortex after brief periods of monocular visual experience. Exp Brain Res 22: 57–68
Purpura DP (1970) Operations and processes in thalamic and synaptically related neural subsystems. In: Schmitt FO (ed) The neurosciences II. Rockefeller Univ. Press, New York, pp 458–470
Rauschecker JP, Singer W (1979) Changes in the circuitry of the kitten's visual cortex are gated by postsynaptic activity. Nature 280: 58–60
Rauschecker JP, Singer W (1981) The effects of early visual experience on the cat's visual cortex and their possible explanation by Hebb synapses. J. Physiol (Lond) 310: 215–239
Ropert N, Steriade M (1981) Input-output organization of midbrain reticular core. J Neurophysiol 46: 17–31
Schlechter PB, Murphy EH (1975) Brief monocular visual experience and kitten cortical binocularity. Brain Res 109: 165–168
Scheibel ME, Scheibel AB (1958) Structural substrates for integrative patterns in brain stem reticular core. In: Jasper HH (ed) Reticular formation of the brain. Little, Brown Co., Boston, pp 31–55
Singer W (1973) The effect of mesencephalic reticular stimulation on intracellular potentials of cat lateral geniculate neurons. Brain Res 61: 35–54
Singer W (1977) Effects of monocular deprivation on excitatory and inhibitory pathways in cat striate cortex. Exp Brain Res 30: 25–41
Singer W (1979) Central-core control of visual cortex functions. In: Schmitt FO, Worden FG (eds) The neurosciences, fourth study program. MIT Press, Cambridge (Mass), pp 1093–1109
Singer W (1980) Zentrale Kontrolle neuronaler Plastizitat in der Sehrinde der Katze. Central gating of developmental plasticity in the cat striate cortex. Verh Dtsch Zool Ges 1980: 268–274
Singer W (1982) Central core control of developmental plasticity in the kitten visual cortex. I. Diencephalic lesions. Exp Brain Res 47: 209–222
Singer W, Tretter F, Cynader M (1976) The effect of reticular stimulation on spontaneous and evoked activity in the cat visual cortex. Brain Res 102: 71–90
Singer W, Yinon U, Tretter F (1979a) Inverted monocular vision prevents ocular dominance shift in kittens and impairs the functional state of visual cortex in adult cats. Brain Res 164: 294–299
Singer W, von Grunau M, Rauschecker J (1979b) Requirements for the disruption of binocularity in the visual cortex of strabismic kittens. Brain Res 171: 536–540
Singer W, von Grunau MW, Rauschecker J (1980) Functional amblyopia in kittens with unilateral exotropia: I. Electrophysiological assessment. Exp Brain Res 40: 294–304
Singer W, Tretter F, Yinon U (1982) Central gating of developmental plasticity in kitten visual cortex. J Physiol 324: 221–237
Snyder A, Shapley R (1979) Deficits in the visual evoked potentials of cats as a result of visual deprivation. Exp. Brain Res 37: 73–86
Sokolov EN (1963) Higher nervous functions: The orienting reflex. Ann Rev Physiol 25: 545–580
Toyama K, Matsunami K (1968) Synaptic action of specific visual impulses upon cat's parastriate cortex. Brain Res 10: 473–476
Tretter F, Cynader M, Singer W (1975) Cat parastriate cortex: A primary or secondary visual area? J Neurophysiol 38: 1098–1113
Tsumoto T, Freeman RD (1981) Ocular dominance in kitten cortex: Induced changes of single cells while they are recorded. Exp Brain Res 44: 347–351
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Part of this work was supported by a grant from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft SFB50, A14
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Singer, W., Rauschecker, J.P. Central core control of developmental plasticity in the kitten visual cortex: II. Electrical activation of mesencephalic and diencephalic projections. Exp Brain Res 47, 223–233 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00239381
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00239381