Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

Neuroplasticity

Neuroplasticity

Neuroplasticity reflects the brain's remarkable capacity to adapt and evolve, responding dynamically to learning, experiences, or injury by reorganizing its neural circuitry. This reorganization involves creating new neural connections and refining old ones through a series of biological processes that contribute to the brain's lifelong development and adaptability.

Vision

Vision

Vision is the result of light being detected and transduced into neural signals by the retina of the eye. This information is then further analyzed and interpreted by the brain. First, light enters the front of the eye and is focused by the cornea and lens onto the retina—a thin sheet of neural tissue lining the back of the eye. Because of refraction through the convex lens of the eye, images are projected onto the retina upside-down and reversed.

Anatomy of the Eyeball

Anatomy of the Eyeball

The eye is a spherical, hollow structure composed of three tissue layers. The outer layer — the fibrous tunic, comprises the sclera — a white structure — and the cornea, which is transparent. The sclera encompasses some of the ocular surface, most of which is not visible. However, the 'white of the eye' is distinctively visible in humans compared to other species. The cornea, a clear covering at the front of the eye, enables light penetration. The eye's middle layer, the vascular tunic,...

Sensory Perception: Organization of the Somatosensory System

Sensory Perception: Organization of the Somatosensory System

The somatosensory system is the central and peripheral nervous system component that senses and processes touch, pressure, pain, temperature, and body position or proprioception. The process of sensation takes place at three levels:
The receptor level:
The receptor level is the first stage of sensation. It involves the detection of a stimulus by specialized sensory receptors. The stimulus must arrive within the receptor's receptive field. Next, the receptor converts the energy of the stimulus...

Unrenewable Cells

Unrenewable Cells

In humans, the photoreceptor cells of the eye and sensory hair cells of the ear lack stem cells. These cells are thus unrenewable and cannot be replaced when they are damaged or destroyed.
Photoreceptors
The retina is composed of several layers and contains specialized cells called photoreceptors. The photoreceptors (rods and cones) change their membrane potential when stimulated by light energy. There are two types of photoreceptors—rods and cones—which differ in the shape of their outer...

Somatosensation

Somatosensation

The somatosensory system relays sensory information from the skin, mucous membranes, limbs, and joints. Somatosensation is more familiarly known as the sense of touch. A typical somatosensory pathway includes three types of long neurons: primary, secondary, and tertiary. Primary neurons have cell bodies located near the spinal cord in groups of neurons called dorsal root ganglia. The sensory neurons of ganglia innervate designated areas of skin called dermatomes.

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

Assessing circuit function in the developing <i>Xenopus</i> tadpole: a survey of the behavioral toolkit and underlying neural substrates.

Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience·2026

Same author

Characterization of Na<sup>+</sup> currents regulating intrinsic excitability of optic tectal neurons.

Life science alliance·2023

Same author

Role of matrix metalloproteinase-9 in neurodevelopmental deficits and experience-dependent plasticity in <i>Xenopus laevis</i>.

eLife·2021

Same author

Early Developmental Exposure to Fluoxetine and Citalopram Results in Different Neurodevelopmental Outcomes.

Neuroscience·2021

Same author

A cellular mechanism for inverse effectiveness in multisensory integration.

eLife·2017

Same author

Emergence of Selectivity to Looming Stimuli in a Spiking Network Model of the Optic Tectum.

Frontiers in neural circuits·2016

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 3, 2026

Eye Removal in Living Zebrafish Larvae to Examine Innervation-dependent Growth and Development of the Visual System

Eye Removal in Living Zebrafish Larvae to Examine Innervation-dependent Growth and Development of the Visual System

Published on: February 11, 2022

Sensory modality-specific homeostatic plasticity in the developing optic tectum.

Katherine E Deeg¹, Carlos D Aizenman

¹Brown University, Department of Neuroscience, Providence, Rhode Island, USA.

Nature Neuroscience

|March 29, 2011

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Researchers discovered a novel form of homeostatic synaptic plasticity in Xenopus tadpole neurons. This pathway-specific plasticity adjusts to changes in visual or mechanosensory input, unlike typical synaptic scaling.

More Related Videos

Inducing Long-Term Plasticity of Intrinsic Neuronal Excitability in Neurons of the Dorsal Lateral Geniculate Nucleus

Inducing Long-Term Plasticity of Intrinsic Neuronal Excitability in Neurons of the Dorsal Lateral Geniculate Nucleus

Published on: September 20, 2024

Monocular Visual Deprivation and Ocular Dominance Plasticity Measurement in the Mouse Primary Visual Cortex

Monocular Visual Deprivation and Ocular Dominance Plasticity Measurement in the Mouse Primary Visual Cortex

Published on: February 8, 2020

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jun 3, 2026

Eye Removal in Living Zebrafish Larvae to Examine Innervation-dependent Growth and Development of the Visual System

Eye Removal in Living Zebrafish Larvae to Examine Innervation-dependent Growth and Development of the Visual System

Published on: February 11, 2022

Inducing Long-Term Plasticity of Intrinsic Neuronal Excitability in Neurons of the Dorsal Lateral Geniculate Nucleus

Inducing Long-Term Plasticity of Intrinsic Neuronal Excitability in Neurons of the Dorsal Lateral Geniculate Nucleus

Published on: September 20, 2024

Monocular Visual Deprivation and Ocular Dominance Plasticity Measurement in the Mouse Primary Visual Cortex

Monocular Visual Deprivation and Ocular Dominance Plasticity Measurement in the Mouse Primary Visual Cortex

Published on: February 8, 2020

Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Synaptic Plasticity
Sensory Integration

Background:

Multisensory neurons in the optic tectum integrate information from various sensory modalities.
Homeostatic synaptic plasticity typically adjusts overall neuronal excitability.
Previous research has not identified pathway-specific homeostatic plasticity.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the form of homeostatic synaptic plasticity in multisensory neurons of Xenopus laevis tadpoles.
To determine if homeostatic plasticity is modality-specific in these neurons.
To compare the observed plasticity with known forms like synaptic scaling and Hebbian plasticity.

Main Methods:

In vivo manipulation of visual and mechanosensory activity in Xenopus laevis tadpoles.
Electrophysiological recordings from optic tectum neurons.
Analysis of synaptic responses to assess plasticity.

Main Results:

A previously unknown form of homeostatic synaptic plasticity was identified in multisensory optic tectum neurons.
Long-term alterations in visual or mechanosensory input induced homeostatic changes specific to each sensory modality.
This plasticity was pathway-specific, differing from general synaptic scaling.

Conclusions:

Xenopus laevis tadpoles exhibit a novel, pathway-specific homeostatic synaptic plasticity.
This plasticity allows for modality-specific adjustments in multisensory neurons.
The findings challenge existing models of homeostatic plasticity and suggest similarities to Hebbian-type plasticity.