The ocular dominance and receptive field properties of visual cortex cells of cats following long-term transection of the optic chiasm and monocular deprivation during adulthood

U. Yinon*, A. Milgram

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

4 Scopus citations

Abstract

Plasticity-induced interhemispheric transfer of visual information to cortical cells was studied in adult cats. The direct contralateral visual pathway was surgically eliminated permitting binocularity only by callosal transfer. In order to enhance the interhemispheric transfer, one hemisphere was made less visually active by depriving it chronically from visual input. Single cell recording was made in areas 17-18 boundary, the callosal projection zone, of operated (OC), operated and deprived (OCMD), and normal control cats. In the OCMD cats, > 90% of the cells in each hemisphere reacted ipsilaterally to the deprived or non-deprived eye. Only 3.1% of the cells in both hemispheres of the OCMD cats and 3.9% in the OC cats had contralateral input via the corpus callosum. The two hemispheres were similar in the selectivity of their cells to stimulus orientation and direction. The average receptive field area of the OCMD cats was also similar for the ipsilaterally driven cells in the two hemispheres; it was 1.2°2 for the deprived eye and 1.1°2 for the normal eye. The receptive fields (> 95%) of both eyes of the OCMD cats were found in the nasal visual hemifields and > 70% of them were at eccentricities of <5°% from the vertical meridian. The disappearance of the temporal (contralateral) hemifields in these cats and the physiological properties of their cortical cells were determined merely by the chiasm transection which had thus induced nearly complete interhemispheric separation. No effect of the monocular deprivation, in normal adult cats or in cats with chiasm transection was found, even after long periods (> 7 months). Therefore, plasticity-induced interhemispheric transfer of visual information was not found during adulthood.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)163-173
Number of pages11
JournalBehavioural Brain Research
Volume38
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - 7 May 1990

Keywords

  • Adult cat
  • Monocular deprivation
  • Optic chiasm transection
  • Receptive field
  • Visual cortex cell

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