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Experience-dependent changes in NMDAR1 expression in the visual cortex of an animal model for amblyopia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 2004

KATHRYN M. MURPHY ,
KEVIN R. DUFFY  and
DAVID G. JONES
KATHRYN M. MURPHY
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, McMaster University, Hamilton ON, Canada Medical Physics and Applied Radiation Sciences Unit, McMaster University, Hamilton ON, Canada
KEVIN R. DUFFY
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, McMaster University, Hamilton ON, Canada Department of Psychology, Dalhousie University, Halifax NS, Canada
DAVID G. JONES
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, McMaster University, Hamilton ON, Canada Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, McMaster University, Hamilton ON, Canada
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Abstract

When normal binocular visual experience is disrupted during postnatal development, it affects the maturation of cortical circuits and often results in the development of poor visual acuity known as amblyopia. Two main factors contribute to the development of amblyopia: visual deprivation and reduced binocular competition. We investigated the affect of these two amblyogenic factors on the expression of the NMDAR1 subunit in the visual cortex because activation of the NMDA receptor is a key mechanism of developmental neural plasticity. We found that disruption of binocular correlations by monocular deprivation promoted a topographic loss of NMDAR1 expression within the cortical representations of the central visual field and the vertical and horizontal meridians. In contrast, binocular deprivation, which primarily affects visual deprivation, promoted an increase in NMDAR1 expression throughout the visual cortex. These different changes in NMDAR1 expression can be described as topographic and homeostatic plasticity of NMDA expression, respectively. In addition, the changes in NMDA expression in the visual cortex provide a greater understanding of the neural mechanisms that underlie the development of amblyopia and the potential for visual recovery.

Keywords

Visual deprivationMonocular deprivationBinocular deprivationAmblyopiaNMDAExperience-dependent plasticity
Type
Research Article
Information
Visual Neuroscience , Volume 21 , Issue 4 , July 2004 , pp. 653 - 670
Copyright
2004 Cambridge University Press

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