The Journal of Neuroscience, November 8, 2006, 26(45):11775-11785; doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1643-06.2006
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Development/Plasticity/Repair
Enduring Critical Period Plasticity Visualized by Transcranial Flavoprotein Imaging in Mouse Primary Visual Cortex
Manavu Tohmi,
Hiroki Kitaura,
Seiji Komagata,
Masaharu Kudoh, and
Katsuei Shibuki
Department of Neurophysiology, Brain Research Institute, Niigata University, Niigata 951-8585, Japan
Correspondence should be addressed to Dr. Katsuei Shibuki, Department of Neurophysiology, Brain Research Institute, Niigata University, 1 Asahi-machi, Niigata 951-8585, Japan. Email: shibuki{at}bri.niigata-u.ac.jp
Experience-dependent plasticity in the visual cortex was investigated using transcranial flavoprotein fluorescence imaging in mice anesthetized with urethane. On- and off-responses in the primary visual cortex were elicited by visual stimuli. Fluorescence responses and field potentials elicited by grating patterns decreased similarly as contrasts of visual stimuli were reduced. Fluorescence responses also decreased as spatial frequency of grating stimuli increased. Compared with intrinsic signal imaging in the same mice, fluorescence imaging showed faster responses with
10 times larger signal changes. Retinotopic maps in the primary visual cortex and area LM were constructed using fluorescence imaging. After monocular deprivation (MD) of 4 d starting from postnatal day 28 (P28), deprived eye responses were suppressed compared with nondeprived eye responses in the binocular zone but not in the monocular zone. Imaging faithfully recapitulated a critical period for plasticity with maximal effects of MD observed around P28 and not in adulthood even under urethane anesthesia. Visual responses were compared before and after MD in the same mice, in which the skull was covered with clear acrylic dental resin. Deprived eye responses decreased after MD, whereas nondeprived eye responses increased. Effects of MD during a critical period were tested 2 weeks after reopening of the deprived eye. Significant ocular dominance plasticity was observed in responses elicited by moving grating patterns, but no long-lasting effect was found in visual responses elicited by light-emitting diode light stimuli. The present results indicate that transcranial flavoprotein fluorescence imaging is a powerful tool for investigating experience-dependent plasticity in the mouse visual cortex.
Key words: visual cortex; experience-dependent plasticity; flavoproteins; fluorescence; optical imaging; mouse
Received April 17, 2006;
revised Oct. 4, 2006;
accepted Oct. 5, 2006.
Correspondence should be addressed to Dr. Katsuei Shibuki, Department of Neurophysiology, Brain Research Institute, Niigata University, 1 Asahi-machi, Niigata 951-8585, Japan. Email: shibuki{at}bri.niigata-u.ac.jp
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