Experience-dependent orientation plasticity in the visual cortex of rats chronically exposed to a single orientation

We used the intrinsic signal optical imaging technique to assess the effect of orientation-restricted visual experience on response properties of the rat visual cortex. We placed young animals wearing goggles fitted with plano-convex cylindrical lenses in a stimulus-enriched environment for 3 weeks. Experienced orientation was over-represented in the visual cortex, which was associated with the under-representation of orthogonal orientation. These findings suggest that chronic exposure to a single orientation can modify orientation preferences even in rats lacking in orderly arrangement of preferred orientations.