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Shrinkage of X cells in the lateral geniculate nucleus after monocular deprivation revealed by FoxP2 labeling

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 January 2014

KEVIN R. DUFFY*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Dalhousie University, Life Sciences Center, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
KAITLYN D. HOLMAN
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Dalhousie University, Life Sciences Center, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
DONALD E. MITCHELL
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Dalhousie University, Life Sciences Center, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

Abstract

The parallel processing of visual features by distinct neuron populations is a central characteristic of the mammalian visual system. In the A laminae of the cat dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus (dLGN), parallel processing streams originate from two principal neuron types, called X and Y cells. Disruption of visual experience early in life by monocular deprivation has been shown to alter the structure and function of Y cells, but the extent to which deprivation influences X cells remains less clear. A transcription factor, FoxP2, has recently been shown to selectively label X cells in the ferret dLGN and thus provides an opportunity to examine whether monocular deprivation alters the soma size of X cells. In this study, FoxP2 labeling was examined in the dLGN of normal and monocularly deprived cats. The characteristics of neurons labeled for FoxP2 were consistent with FoxP2 being a marker for X cells in the cat dLGN. Monocular deprivation for either a short (7 days) or long (7 weeks) duration did not alter the density of FoxP2-positive neurons between nondeprived and deprived dLGN layers. However, for each deprived animal examined, measurement of the cross-sectional area of FoxP2-positive neurons (X cells) revealed that within deprived layers, X cells were smaller by approximately 20% after 7 days of deprivation, and by approximately 28% after 7 weeks of deprivation. The observed alteration to the cross-sectional area of X cells indicates that perturbation of this major pathway contributes to the functional impairments that develop from monocular deprivation.

Type
Research Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

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