T. Pizzorusso et al., TEMPORAL ASPECTS OF CONTRAST VISUAL-EVOKED POTENTIALS IN THE PIGMENTED RAT - EFFECT OF DARK REARING, Vision research, 37(4), 1997, pp. 389-395
Cortical visual evoked potentials (VEPs) in response to gratings tempo
rally modulated in counterphase were recorded in normal and dark-reare
d pigmented rats. Temporal modulation was either sinusoidal (0.25-15 H
z, steady state condition) or abrupt (0.5 Hz, transient condition). In
normals, the amplitude spectrum of contrast VEPs has two peaks (at ab
out 0.5 and 4 Dz) and a high temporal frequency cut-off of the order o
f 11 Hz. The VEP phase lags with temporal frequency, showing two diffe
rent linear slopes for separate frequency ranges (0.25-1 Hz and 1-7 Hz
) centred on the peaks of the curve. The different slopes correspond t
o apparent latencies of 500 and 136 msec, respectively. Dark rearing r
educed the cut-off frequency by about 3 Hz and increased apparent late
ncies by about 42 msec in the low temporal frequency range and 30 msec
in the high temporal frequency range. The latency of the first peak o
f transient VEPs was increased by about 47 msec. Results indicate that
the frequency response of rat contrast VEPs is qualitatively similar
to that of other mammals (including human), albeit shifted to a lower
range of temporal frequencies. Dark rearing significantly alters the V
EP temporal characteristics, suggesting that visual experience is nece
ssary for their correct development. Copyright (C) 1997 Elsevier Scien
ce Ltd.