Faculty Proceedings, Presentations, Posters, Speeches, Lectures, etc.

Title

Topographic map reorganization of visual cortex following unilateral retinal lesions in 8-week-old cats

Format

Poster

Conference Title

Society of Neuroscience Annual Meeting

Organization/Association/Group

Society of Neuroscience

Location

New Orleans, Louisiana / November 4-9, 2000

Publication Date / Copyright Date

11-9-2000

Abstract

The topographic map of visual cortex in adult cats is known to reorganize following bilateral retinal lesions. It is not known, however, whether retinal lesions during early development result in cortical map reorganization. In this study, we investigated whether a small, unilateral retinal lesion at 8 weeks of age reorganizes the topographic map of cat area 17 and if it does, whether the nature of reorganization is similar to that in adults. Unlike in adults, a complete map reorganization occurred following 3 years of recovery and there was no silent areas of cortex when the lesioned eye was used for viewing. The ‘new’ receptive-fields mapped for the lesioned eye showed very similar properties to those for the normal eyes. Although there were considerable binocular signal interactions, the nature of the interactions was different from that in normal units. The results suggest that the observed cortical map reorganization could be involved with perceptual filling-in of a scotoma due to an early unilateral retinal lesion.

Disciplines

Optometry

Keywords

adult plasticity, scotoma, area 17, postnatal development

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Peer Reviewed

 
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