L. Watroba et al., Impairment of binocular vision in the adult cat induces plastic changes inthe callosal cortical map, EUR J NEURO, 14(6), 2001, pp. 1021-1029
In the primary visual cortex of normally reared adult cat, neurons activate
d through the corpus callosum are almost entirely located at the 17/18 bord
er. They display small receptive fields distributed along the central verti
cal meridian of the visual field and are orientation selective. Here we dem
onstrate that a few weeks of monocular deprivation or unilateral convergent
strabismus produced in adulthood does not modify the cortical distribution
of these neurons, but leads to an increase of their receptive field size m
ainly toward the ipsilateral hemifield and to a loss of their orientation s
electivity. We conclude that manipulation of binocular vision in the adult
modifies neither the location of the primary callosal cortical map nor its
retinotopy. In contrast, it induces functional plastic changes in this map
which lead to a significant widening of the area of visual space signalled
through the corpus callosum. These plastic changes are interpreted as the r
esult of the strengthening of normally hidden subthreshold synaptic inputs.