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Effect of monocular deprivation on NMDAR1 immunostaining in ocular dominance columns of the marmoset Callithrix jacchus

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2000

CAROLINE FONTA
Affiliation:
Centre de Recherche Cerveau et Cognition, UMR 5549 Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique/Université Paul Sabatier, Faculté de Médecine Rangueil, 133 route de Narbonne, 31062 Toulouse Cedex, France
CATHERINE CHAPPERT
Affiliation:
Centre de Recherche Cerveau et Cognition, UMR 5549 Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique/Université Paul Sabatier, Faculté de Médecine Rangueil, 133 route de Narbonne, 31062 Toulouse Cedex, France
MICHEL IMBERT
Affiliation:
Centre de Recherche Cerveau et Cognition, UMR 5549 Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique/Université Paul Sabatier, Faculté de Médecine Rangueil, 133 route de Narbonne, 31062 Toulouse Cedex, France

Abstract

We previously showed that immunoreactivity to N-Methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors in primary visual cortex of Callithrix jacchus is regulated by visual activity during the second and third postnatal months (Fonta et al., 1997). The purpose of the present study was to show that the columnar pattern of high and low NMDAR1 immunoreactivity observed in monocularly deprived animals corresponds to ocular dominance columns linked to the nondeprived and deprived eye, respectively. We compared cortical distribution of NMDAR1 receptors and the projection zones of thalamic afferents, revealed by transneuronal transport of tritiated proline, in 2-month-old, either monocularly deprived or control, marmosets. The data show that ocular dominance columns exist in 2-month-old marmosets and that a 2-week monocular deprivation by means of eyelid suture leads to a modification of the thalamo-cortical afferents organization. Experiments of neuronal tracing and immunohistochemistry performed on the same animals demonstrated that cortical domains with decreased NMDAR1 level correspond to the deprived eye columns. These investigations, coupled to the previous results, strongly suggest that the NMDA receptors, regulated by visual activity, are involved in the refining of ocular dominance columns in the primary visual cortex of juvenile marmoset.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
2000 Cambridge University Press

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