Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dk4vv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T12:50:27.392Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Short periods of darkness fail to restore visual or neural plasticity in adult cats

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 January 2018

KAITLYN D. HOLMAN ,
KEVIN R. DUFFY  and
DONALD E. MITCHELL
KAITLYN D. HOLMAN
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS B3H 4R2, Canada Center for Neural Science, New York University, New York, New York 10003
KEVIN R. DUFFY*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS B3H 4R2, Canada
DONALD E. MITCHELL*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS B3H 4R2, Canada
*
*Address correspondence to: Dr. Donald Mitchell, Department of Psychology & Neuroscience, Dalhousie University, South Street PO Box 15000, Halifax, NS B3H 4R2, Canada. E-mail: d.e.mitchell@dal.ca
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

It has been shown that the visual acuity loss experienced by the deprived eye of kittens following an early period of monocular deprivation (MD) can be alleviated rapidly following 10 days of complete darkness when imposed even as late as 14 weeks of age. To examine whether 10 days of darkness conferred benefits at any age, we measured the extent of recovery of the visual acuity of the deprived eye following the darkness imposed on adult cats that had received the same early period of MD as used in prior experiments conducted on kittens. Parallel studies conducted on different animals examined the extent to which darkness changed the magnitude of the MD-induced laminar differences of the cell soma size and immunoreactivity for the neurofilament (NF) protein in the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus (dLGN). The results indicated that 10 days of darkness imposed at one year of age neither alleviated the acuity loss of the deprived eye induced by an earlier period of MD nor did it decrease the concurrent lamina differences of the soma size or NF loss in the dLGN.

Keywords

Critical periodDarknessVisual acuityAmblyopiaThalamus
Type
Research Article
Information
Visual Neuroscience , Volume 35 , 2018 , E002
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Baker, F.H., Grigg, P. & Von Noorden, G.K. (1974). Effects of visual deprivation and strabismus on the responses of neurons in the visual cortex of the monkey, including studies on the striate and prestriate cortex in the normal animal. Brain Research 66, 185–208.Google Scholar
Blakemore, C., Garey, L.J. & Vital-Durand, F. (1978). The physiological effects of monocular deprivation and their reversal in the monkey’s visual cortex. Journal of Physiology 283, 223–262.Google Scholar
Blakemore, C. & Van Sluyters, R.C. (1974). Reversal of the physiological effects of monocular deprivation in kittens: Further evidence for a sensitive period. Journal of Physiology 237, 195–216.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Blakemore, C., Vital-Durand, F. & Garey, L.J. (1981). Recovery from monocular deprivation in the monkey. I. Recovery of physiological effects in the visual cortex. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B: Biological Sciences 213, 399–423.Google Scholar
Blasdel, G.G. & Pettigrew, J.D. (1978). Effect of prior visual experience on cortical recovery from the effects of unilateral eyelid suture in kittens. Journal of Physiology 274, 601–619.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cynader, M., Timney, B.N. & Mitchell, D.E. (1980). Period of susceptibility of kitten visual cortex to the effects of monocular deprivation extends beyond six months of age. Brain Research 191, 545–550.Google Scholar
Daw, N.W. (2006). Visual Development (2nd ed.). New York: Springer.Google Scholar
Daw, N.W., Fox, K.D., Sato, H. & Czepita, D. (1992). Critical period for monocular deprivation in the cat visual cortex. Journal of Neurophysiology 67, 197–202.Google Scholar
Duffy, K.R., Bukhamseen, D.H., Smithen, M.J. & Mitchell, D.E. (2014a). Binocular eyelid closure promotes anatomical but not behavioral recovery from monocular deprivation. Vision Research 114, 151–160.Google Scholar
Duffy, K.R., Holman, K.D. & Mitchell, D.E. (2014b). Shrinkage of X cells in the lateral geniculate nucleus after monocular deprivation revealed by FoxP2 labeling. Visual Neuroscience 31, 253–261.Google Scholar
Duffy, K.R., Lingley, A.J., Holman, K.D. & Mitchell, D.E. (2016). Susceptibility to monocular deprivation following immersion in darkness either late into or beyond the critical period. Journal of Comparative Neurology 524, 2643–2653.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Duffy, K.R. & Mitchell, D.E. (2013). Darkness alters maturation of visual cortex and promotes fast recovery from monocular deprivation. Current Biology 23, 382–386.Google Scholar
Duffy, K.R. & Slusar, J.E. (2009). Monocular deprivation provokes alteration of the neuronal cytoskeleton in developing cat lateral geniculate nucleus. Visual Neuroscience 26, 319–328.Google Scholar
Erchova, I., Vasalauskaite, A., Longo, V. & Sengpiel, F. (2017). Enhancement of visual cortex plasticity by dark exposure. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, B: Biological Sciences 372, 20160159.Google Scholar
Garey, L.J. & Vital-Durand, F. (1981). Recovery from monocular deprivation in the monkey. II. Reversal of morphological effects in the lateral geniculate nucleus. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B: Biological Sciences 213, 425–433.Google Scholar
Georges, E. & Mushynski, W.E. (1987). Chemical modificatIon of charged amino acid moieties alters the electrophoretic mobilities of neurofilament subunits on SDS/polyacrylamide gels. European Journal of Biochemistry 165, 281–287.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Giffin, F. & Mitchell, D.E. (1978). The rate of recovery of vision after early monocular deprivation in kittens. Journal of Physiology 274, 511–537.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Harwerth, R.S., Smith, E.E., Boltz, R.L., Crawford, M.L. & Von Noorden, G.K. (1983). Behavioral studies on the effect of abnormal early visual experience in monkeys: Spatial modulation sensitivity. Vision Research 23, 1501–1510.Google Scholar
He, H.Y., Hodos, W. & Quinlan, E.M. (2006). Visual deprivation reactivates rapid ocular dominance plasticity in adult visual cortex. Journal of Neuroscience 26, 2951–2955.Google Scholar
He, H-Y., Ray, B., Dennis, K. & Quinlan, E.M. (2007). Experience-dependent recovery of vision following chronic deprivation amblyopia. Nature Neuroscience 10, 1134–1136.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hubel, D.E., Wiesel, T.N. & Levay, S. (1977). Plasticity of ocular dominance columns in monkey striate cortex. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series B: Biological Sciences 278, 377–409.Google Scholar
Jones, K.R., Spear, P.D. & Tong, L. (1984). Critical periods for effects of monocular deprivation: Differences between striate and extrastriate cortex. Journal of Neuroscience 4, 2543–2552.Google Scholar
Julien, J.P. & Mushynski, W.E. (1982). Multiple phosphorylation sites in mammalian neurofilament polypeptides. Journal of Biological Chemistry 257, 10467–10470.Google Scholar
Kaufman, E., Geisler, N. & Weber, K. (1984). SDS-Page strongly overestimates the molecular masses of the neurofilament proteins. FEBS Letters 170, 81–84.Google Scholar
Kutcher, M.R. & Duffy, K.R. (2007). Cytoskeleton alteration correlates with gross structural plasticity in the cat lateral geniculate nucleus. Visual Neuroscience 24, 775–785.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
LeVay, S., Wiesel, T.N. & Hubel, D.H. (1980). The development of ocular dominance columns in normal and visually deprived monkeys. Journal of Comparative Neurology 191, 1–51.Google Scholar
Lewis, T.L. & Maurer, D. (2005). Multiple sensitive periods in human visual development: Evidence from visually deprived children. Developmental Psychobiology 46, 163–183.Google Scholar
Mitchell, D.E. (1988). The extent of visual recovery from early monocular or binocular visual deprivation in kittens. Journal of Physiology 395, 639–660.Google Scholar
Mitchell, D.E. (2013). A shot in the dark: The use of darkness to investigate visual development and as a therapy for amblyopia. Clinical and Experimental Optometry 96, 363–372.Google Scholar
Mitchell, D.E., Cynader, M. & Movshon, J.A. (1977). Recovery from the effects of monocular deprivation in kittens. Journal of Comparative Neurology 176, 53–64.Google Scholar
Mitchell, D.E., Macneil, K., Crowder, N.A., Holman, K. & Duffy, K.R. (2016). Recovery of visual functions in amblyopic animals following brief exposure to total darkness. Journal of Physiology 594, 149–167.Google Scholar
Movshon, J.A. (1976a). Reversal of the physiological effects of monocular deprivation in the kitten’s visual cortex. Journal of Physiology 261, 125–174.Google Scholar
Movshon, J.A. (1976b). Reversal of the behavioural effects of monocular deprivation in the kitten. Journal of Physiology 261, 175–187.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Murphy, K.M. & Mitchell, D.E. (1987). Reduced visual acuity in both eyes of monocularly deprived kittens following a short or a long period of reverse occlusion. Journal of Neuroscience 7, 1526–1536.Google Scholar
O’Leary, T.P., Kutcher, M.R., Mitchell, D.E. & Duffy, K.R. (2012). Recovery of neurofilament following early monocular deprivation. Frontiers in System Neuroscience 6, 22.Google Scholar
Olson, C.R. & Fremman, R.D. (1978). Monocular deprivation and recovery during sensitive period in kittens. Journal of Neurophysiology 41, 65–74.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Olson, C.R. & Freeman, R.D. (1980). Profile of the sensitive period for monocular deprivation in kittens. Experimental Brain Research 39, 17–21.Google Scholar
Stodieck, S.K., Greifzu, F., Goetze, B., Schmidt, K-F. & Löwel, S. (2014). Brief dark exposure restored ocular dominance plasticity in aging mice and after a cortical stroke. Experimental Gerontology 60, 1–11.Google Scholar
Swindale, N.V., Vital-Durand, F. & Blakemore, C. (1981). Recovery from monocular deprivation in monkey. III. Reversal of anatomical effects in visual cortex. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B: Biological Sciences 213, 435–450.Google Scholar