Effects of monocular deprivation on the cat's geniculate neurons projecting to both areas 17 and 18

When a kitten is reared with one eyelid sutured closed, there are profound changes in the developing visual system. In the lateral geniculate nucleus, the neurons in the laminae innervated by the deprived eye are smaller than normal, and some of these neurons may lose connections with the visual cortex. In the present study a variety of double label retrograde transport methods were used to define the effects of monocular deprivation on cortical projections of geniculate neurons. One marker was injected into area 17 and the other was injected into area 18. Neurons projecting to area 17 are on average 16.4% smaller than those in the nondeprived laminae. The neurons that normally would project to both areas 17 and 18 by an axon that branches are the most severely affected by monocular deprivation. These cells are nearly 40% smaller than their counterparts in the nondeprived laminae, and many of the neurons appear to lose their projection to one of the cortical areas. These neurons may be at a distinct disadvantage, since they must compete with neurons from the nondeprived laminae for a considerable amount of cortical territory in two different cortical areas. This competition may be so severe that some of the neurons are no longer capable of maintaining connections with both cortical areas.