Topic: amblyopia

Amblyopia is a developmental visual disorder of the cerebral cortex that compromises contrast sensitivity, spatial resolution, and shape perception (Kiorpes \& Movshon, 1996; Holmes \& Clarke, 2006). Based on recent studies (Pons et al., 2019; Najafian et al. 2022), we hypothesize that amblyopia differently affects ON and OFF visual pathways and their sampling of visual space in the cortex. We test this hypothesis with a computational model that simulates visual distortions in humans with amblyopia, reported as drawings of grating patterns (Barrett et al., 2003). The grating distortions are si

Repressor Element 1-Silencing Transcription Factor (REST) regulates the expression of a wide array of neuronal genes implicated in differentiation, development and plasticity. We demonstrate the effect of REST inhibition on primary visual cortex (V1) plasticity in the adult mouse. Employing the monocular deprivation paradigm and experimentally-induced amblyopia in a RESTGTi conditional knockout (cKO) model, we studied the effects of stereotaxically delivering Cre recombinase into V1 via adeno-associated virus vectors (AAVs) on visual cortex plasticity in vivo. To this end, we recorded visual

The dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus (dLGN) has long been held to act as a basic relay for visual information travelling from the retina to cortical areas, but recent findings suggest a largely underestimated functional plasticity of dLGN neurons. However, the cellular mechanisms supporting this functional plasticity have not been yet explored. In particular, it remains to elucidate whether intrinsic neuronal excitability change upon visual stimuli. We show here that monocular deprivation for 10 days reduces the intrinsic excitability of dorsal LGN relay cells. Furthermore, dLGN neurons exhib

Amblyopia arises from neuronal adaptation due to abnormal experience of one eye during a critical period of visual development. The molecular mechanisms underlying amblyopia are not characterized. To investigate this process, we used the monocular deprivation experimental paradigm in young rats to induce plasticity of neuronal excitability in dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus (dLGN) neurons (Duménieu et al., BioRxiv 2023). Employing a proteomic approach, we identified activity-dependent dynamic change in the components of dLGN neurons. By microdissection we isolated deprived and spared regions