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A precritical period for plasticity in visual cortex.

Marla B Feller1, Massimo Scanziani

  • 1Neurobiology Section 0357, UCSD, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093-0357, USA. mscanziani@ucsd.edu

Current Opinion in Neurobiology
|February 22, 2005
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

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Visual experience shapes brain development, forming ocular dominance columns before a critical period. The transition from early development to this critical period, marked by GABAergic circuit activation, remains poorly understood.

Area of Science:

  • Developmental Neuroscience
  • Neuroplasticity
  • Visual System Development

Background:

  • Monocular deprivation alters ocular dominance columns in primary visual cortex.
  • This visual cortex plasticity occurs during a critical period, typically from early life to adulthood.

Purpose of the Study:

  • Investigate the role of neural activity in ocular dominance column formation before the critical period.
  • Explore the developmental transition from precritical to critical periods in visual cortex development.

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of ocular dominance column formation during early visual experience.
  • Examination of spontaneous neural activity and its influence on visual cortex development.
  • Investigation of GABAergic circuit activation as a marker for critical period onset.

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Main Results:

  • Ocular dominance columns are substantially formed before the critical period begins.
  • Spontaneous neural activity is robust during this precritical period of column formation.
  • Activation of GABAergic circuits signals the transition to the critical period.

Conclusions:

  • Early visual experience and neural activity shape ocular dominance columns before the critical period.
  • The precise mechanisms by which GABAergic circuit activation triggers the critical period transition are unknown.