LGN activity patterns during OD plasticity in vivo

描述（由申请人提供）：几十年来，我们已经知道，在出生后早期改变动物的视觉体验会影响皮层神经元的反应特性。虽然很多人都知道的解剖和生理的视觉变化，导致暴露在不同的视觉环境中的动物皮层，很少有人知道的传入模式的活动，从背外侧膝状体核（dLGN），驱动这些变化。由于单眼眼睑缝合（MS），而不是单眼视网膜失活（MI），导致抑郁症的剥夺眼反应在视觉皮层，我们假设，dLGN神经元将显示不同的活动模式，在这两种条件下的差异将包括显着的特点，反应抑郁症发生在体内。为了检验这一假设，我们将在MS、MI和正常观察条件下记录来自头部受限和自由行为的幼年啮齿动物的细胞外dLGN单位活性。由于成年人没有表现出剥夺诱导的抑郁症，我们假设dLGN活动可能会随着动物的成熟而改变。为了验证这一假设，我们将在成年动物中重复我们的剥夺实验，并将这些结果与在青少年中获得的结果进行比较。这项研究将揭示导致弱视的神经活动模式。通过了解导致这种疾病的潜在活动，新的治疗方法可能会变得明显。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): For decades we have known that changing an animal's visual experience during an early postnatal period affects the response properties of neurons in the cortex. While much is known about the anatomical and physiological visual changes in cortex that result from exposing the animal to different visual environments, little is known about the afferent patterns of activity from the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus (dLGN) that drive these changes. Because monocular lid suture (MS), but not monocular retinal inactivation (Ml), leads to a depression of the deprived eye response in visual cortex, we hypothesize that dLGN neurons will show different patterns of activity under these two conditions and the differences will encompass the salient features for response depression to occur in vivo. To test this hypothesis, we will record extracellular dLGN unit activity from head-restrained and freely behaving juvenile rodents under MS, Ml and normal viewing conditions. Since adults do not show a deprivation induced depression, we hypothesize that dLGN activity may be changing as the animal matures. To test this hypothesis, we will repeat our deprivation experiments in adult animals and compare these results to those obtained in the juveniles. This research will shed light on the patterns of neural activity that lead to amblyopia. By understanding the underlying activity that leads to this disorder, new methods for treatment may become apparent.