LGN activity patterns during ocular dominance plasticity in vivo

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, 2008.

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Linden, Monica L. (Monica Loryn)
Other Authors: Mark F. Bear.
Format: Thesis
Language:eng
Published: Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2008
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/42946
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author Linden, Monica L. (Monica Loryn)
author2 Mark F. Bear.
author_facet Mark F. Bear.
Linden, Monica L. (Monica Loryn)
author_sort Linden, Monica L. (Monica Loryn)
collection MIT
description Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, 2008.
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spelling mit-1721.1/429462019-04-12T09:48:29Z LGN activity patterns during ocular dominance plasticity in vivo (cont.) These findings substantially alter the interpretation of previous studies and define the activity patterns that govern cortical plasticity in vivo. Furthermore, this work may have important implications for treatments of developmental disorders including ambylopia. Linden, Monica L. (Monica Loryn) Mark F. Bear. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Brain and Cognitive Sciences. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Brain and Cognitive Sciences. Brain and Cognitive Sciences. Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, 2008. This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections. "June 2008." Includes bibliographical references. Perturbations of sensory experience in young animals are known to cause lasting changes in adult brain function. For example, monocular visual deprivation by lid closure (MC) leads to a loss of cortical responsiveness of the deprived eye and a concomitant visual impairment. This ocular dominance (OD) plasticity is a well-studied model of experience-dependent cortical plasticity. While much is known about the anatomical, physiological and biochemical changes that occur in primary visual cortex following OD plasticity, the input patterns that lead to these changes have not been characterized. Visual input travels from the retina through the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus (dLGN) of the thalamus and then into visual cortex. Several models of the thalamic activity patterns which drive OD plasticity have been proposed, but the assumptions about the pattern and amount of input activity from thalamus to cortex during deprivation have not been experimentally validated. Therefore, we performed extracellular recordings from the dLGN of animals during periods of visual manipulation. Contrary to previous hypotheses, the present findings demonstrate that MC does not alter the overall firing rate of neural activity in the dLGN. Instead, MC alters the pattern of neural spike trains such that there is a decrease in simultaneous firing of neighboring neurons. Moreover, the elimination of visual input from the retina, a form of deprivation which does not lead to deprived-eye depression, leads to a dramatic increase in thalamic bursting. Additionally, there are subtle qualitative differences between dLGN activity in juveniles and adults during MC, and this may contribute to differences in OD plasticity with age. by Monica L. Linden. Ph.D. 2008-11-07T14:12:50Z 2008-11-07T14:12:50Z 2008 Thesis http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/42946 259207712 eng M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission. http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582 155 p. application/pdf Massachusetts Institute of Technology
spellingShingle Brain and Cognitive Sciences.
Linden, Monica L. (Monica Loryn)
LGN activity patterns during ocular dominance plasticity in vivo
title LGN activity patterns during ocular dominance plasticity in vivo
title_full LGN activity patterns during ocular dominance plasticity in vivo
title_fullStr LGN activity patterns during ocular dominance plasticity in vivo
title_full_unstemmed LGN activity patterns during ocular dominance plasticity in vivo
title_short LGN activity patterns during ocular dominance plasticity in vivo
title_sort lgn activity patterns during ocular dominance plasticity in vivo
topic Brain and Cognitive Sciences.
url http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/42946
work_keys_str_mv AT lindenmonicalmonicaloryn lgnactivitypatternsduringoculardominanceplasticityinvivo
AT lindenmonicalmonicaloryn contthesefindingssubstantiallyaltertheinterpretationofpreviousstudiesanddefinetheactivitypatternsthatgoverncorticalplasticityinvivofurthermorethisworkmayhaveimportantimplicationsfortreatmentsofdevelopmentaldisordersincludingambylopia