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Early visual experience prevents but cannot reverse deprivation-induced loss of refinement in adult superior colliculus

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 January 2007

MARÍA MAGDALENA CARRASCO  and
SARAH L. PALLAS
MARÍA MAGDALENA CARRASCO
Affiliation:
Graduate Program in Neurobiology and Behavior, Department of Biology, Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia
SARAH L. PALLAS
Affiliation:
Graduate Program in Neurobiology and Behavior, Department of Biology, Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia
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Abstract

The role of sensory experience in the development and plasticity of the visual system has been widely studied. It has generally been reported that once animals reach adulthood, experience-dependent visual plasticity is reduced. We have found that visual experience is not needed for the refinement of receptive fields (RFs) in the superior colliculus (SC) but instead is necessary to maintain them in adulthood (Carrasco et al., 2005). Without light exposure, RFs in SC of hamsters refine by postnatal day 60 as usual but then enlarge, presumably reducing visual acuity. In this study we examine whether a brief period of light exposure during early postnatal development would be sufficient to prevent RF enlargement in adulthood, and whether prolonged light exposure in adulthood could reverse the deprivation-induced increase in RF size. We found that an early postnatal period of at least 30 days of visual experience was sufficient to maintain refined RFs in the adult SC. Prolonged visual experience in adulthood could not reverse the RF enlargement resulting from long-term dark rearing, reflecting a loss of plasticity at this age. Our results suggest that, unlike in visual cortex, dark rearing does not indefinitely extend the critical period of plasticity in SC. Rather, there is a limited time window when early experience can protect RFs from the detrimental effects of visual deprivation in adulthood. These results contribute to understanding adult brain plasticity and argue for the importance of early visual experience in protecting the adult visual system.

Keywords

RetinotectalVisual deprivationRodentAdult plasticityLow vision
Type
Research Article
Information
Visual Neuroscience , Volume 23 , Issue 6 , November 2006 , pp. 845 - 852
Copyright
© 2006 Cambridge University Press

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