Environmental Enrichment Rescues Binocular Matching of Orientation Preference in the Mouse Visual Cortex

The Journal of Neuroscience : the Official Journal of the Society for Neuroscience
Jared N LevineJianhua Cang

Abstract

Neural circuits are shaped by experience during critical periods of development. Sensory deprivation during these periods permanently compromises an organism's ability to perceive the outside world. In the mouse visual system, normal visual experience during a critical period in early life drives the matching of individual cortical neurons' orientation preferences through the two eyes, likely a key step in the development of binocular vision. Here, in mice of both sexes, we show that the binocular matching process is completely blocked by monocular deprivation spanning the entire critical period. We then show that 3 weeks of environmental enrichment (EE), a paradigm of enhanced sensory, motor, and cognitive stimulation, is sufficient to rescue binocular matching to the level seen in unmanipulated mice. In contrast, 6 weeks of conventional housing only resulted in a partial rescue. Finally, we use two-photon calcium imaging to track the matching process chronically in individual cells during EE-induced rescue. We find that for cells that are clearly dominated by one of the two eyes, the input representing the weaker eye changes its orientation preference to align with that of the dominant eye. These results thus reveal ocular do...Continue Reading

Citations

Apr 10, 2018·Experimental & Molecular Medicine·Se-Young Choi
Nov 20, 2018·Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science·Tina Y GaoBenjamin Thompson
Mar 12, 2020·Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience·James BlokCatherine A Leamey
Jul 31, 2020·Scientific Reports·Gabriele SanseveroAlessandro Sale

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