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Updated: May 26, 2026
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Ex Vivo Optogenetic Interrogation of Long-Range Synaptic Transmission and Plasticity from Medial Prefrontal Cortex to Lateral Entorhinal Cortex
Published on: February 25, 2022
Rapid experience-dependent plasticity of synapse function and structure in ferret visual cortex in vivo
Hongbo Yu1, Ania K Majewska, Mriganka Sur
1Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
Summary
Visual experience rapidly reshapes brain structure and function. Monocular deprivation in ferrets showed that changes in neuronal responses and dendritic spines occur quickly and are linked, reversing upon eye reopening.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Biology
- Visual System Research
Background:
- The precise mechanisms linking visual experience to neuronal plasticity in the developing brain remain unclear.
- Understanding how functional and structural brain changes interact is crucial for developmental neuroscience.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between rapid functional alterations and dendritic spine remodeling in vivo.
- To determine the timescale and rules governing visual cortex plasticity during early development.
Main Methods:
- Chronic in vivo imaging was employed in the ferret visual cortex.
- Visual responses and dendritic spine dynamics were tracked following brief monocular deprivation.
Main Results:
- Functional changes, primarily loss of deprived eye responses, were tightly coupled with dendritic spine structural changes.
- These rapid changes occurred on an hourly timescale and were reversible upon reopening the deprived eye.
- A consistent rule governed these alterations, independent of regional ocular dominance, with changes proportional to pre-deprivation drive.
Conclusions:
- Visual experience rapidly induces coordinated functional and structural plasticity in the developing visual cortex.
- Dendritic spine remodeling is a key mechanism underlying rapid visual experience-dependent brain changes.
- The findings reveal a global regulatory principle for visual cortex plasticity during development.
