LGN activity patterns during OD plasticity in vivo

描述(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质神经元的反应特性。由于动物暴露在不同的视觉环境中，导致大脑皮质的解剖学和生理性视觉变化，人们知道的很多，但对驱动这些变化的背侧膝状核(DLGN)的传入活动模式知之甚少。由于单眼眼睑缝合(MS)而不是单眼视网膜失活(ML)会导致视皮质剥夺眼反应的抑制，我们假设dLGN神经元在这两种情况下将显示不同的活动模式，并且这些差异将包括体内发生反应抑制的显著特征。为了验证这一假设，我们将记录在MS、ML和正常观看条件下，头部约束和行为自由的幼年啮齿动物的细胞外dLGN单位活动。由于成年人不会表现出剥夺诱导的抑郁，我们假设dLGN的活性可能会随着动物的成熟而改变。为了验证这一假设，我们将在成年动物身上重复我们的剥夺实验，并将这些结果与在青少年身上获得的结果进行比较。这项研究将阐明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，新的治疗方法可能变得显而易见。

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.