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The Journal of Neuroscience, January 3, 2007, 27(1):180-189; doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3227-06.2007

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Development/Plasticity/Repair
Critical Period Window for Spectral Tuning Defined in the Primary Auditory Cortex (A1) in the Rat

Etienne de Villers-Sidani,¹ Edward F. Chang,¹ Shaowen Bao,² and Michael M. Merzenich¹

¹W. M. Keck Center for Integrative Neuroscience, Coleman Laboratory, Department of Otolaryngology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California 94143, and ²Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California, 94720

Correspondence should be addressed to Dr. Etienne de Villers-Sidani, W. M. Keck Center for Integrative Neuroscience, Coleman Laboratory, Department of Otolaryngology, Box 0732, University of California, San Francisco, 513 Parnassus Avenue, Room HSE-808, San Francisco, CA 94143. Email: etienne{at}phy.ucsf.edu

Experience-dependent plasticity during development results in the emergence of highly adapted representations of the external world in the adult brain. Previous studies have convincingly shown that the primary auditory cortex (A1) of the rat possesses a postnatal period of sensory input-driven plasticity but its precise timing (onset, duration, end) has not been defined. In the present study, we examined the effects of pure-tone exposure on the auditory cortex of developing rat pups at different postnatal ages with a high temporal resolution. We found that pure-tone exposure resulted in profound, persistent alterations in sound representations in A1 only if the exposure occurred during a brief period extending from postnatal day 11 (P11) to P13. We also found that postnatal sound exposure in this epoch led to striking alterations in the cortical representation of sound intensity.

Key words: plasticity; sensory; development; learning; environment; frequency

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Received July 27, 2006; revised Dec. 1, 2006; accepted Dec. 2, 2006.

Correspondence should be addressed to Dr. Etienne de Villers-Sidani, W. M. Keck Center for Integrative Neuroscience, Coleman Laboratory, Department of Otolaryngology, Box 0732, University of California, San Francisco, 513 Parnassus Avenue, Room HSE-808, San Francisco, CA 94143. Email: etienne{at}phy.ucsf.edu

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