Experience-Dependent Modifications of Kitten Striate Cortex Are Not Prevented by Thalamic Lesions That Include the Intralaminar Nuclei
Abstract
It has been shown previously that surgical lesion of the ante ro- medial thalamus interfere with ocular dominance modifications that normally result from monocular deprivation in young kittens. The aim of the present study was to determine whether this effect was due specifically to the destruction of the visual cortical projections of the anterior intralaminar nuclei. We report here that large excitotoxin lesion of the anterior dorsal thalamus have no effect on the cortical response to monocular deprivation. These data indicate that the intralaminar projection is not essential for ocular dominance plasticity. The intralaminar projection to striate cortex arises from the central lateral (CL), central medial (CM) and paracentral (PC) nuclei, which are embedded in the internal medullary lamina (IML) of the thalamus. The excitotoxin N-methyl aspartate (NMA) destroys neurons, but spare axons of passage. Our strategy was to destroy all the portions of the CL-PC complex that project to area 17, and then test for a deficit in the OD shift that normally occurs after 7-10 days of MD.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 31, 1989
- Accession Number
- ADA204177
Entities
People
- Andreas Kleinschmidt
- Mark Bear
- Wolf Singer
Organizations
- Brown University