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Massive restructuring of neuronal circuits during functional reorganization of adult visual cortex

Nature Neuroscience volume 11, pages 1162–1167 (2008)Cite this article

Abstract

The cerebral cortex has the ability to adapt to altered sensory inputs. In the visual cortex, a small lesion to the retina causes the deprived cortical region to become responsive to adjacent parts of the visual field. This extensive topographic remapping is assumed to be mediated by the rewiring of intracortical connections, but the dynamics of this reorganization process remain unknown. We used repeated intrinsic signal and two-photon imaging to monitor functional and structural alterations in adult mouse visual cortex over a period of months following a retinal lesion. The rate at which dendritic spines were lost and gained increased threefold after a small retinal lesion, leading to an almost complete replacement of spines in the deafferented cortex within 2 months. Because this massive remodeling of synaptic structures did not occur when all visual input was removed, it likely reflects the activity-dependent establishment of new cortical circuits that serve the recovery of visual responses.

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Figure 1: Intrinsic-signal imaging of the LPZ in mouse visual cortex after focal retinal lesions.
Figure 2: Intrinsic imaging of functional recovery in mouse visual cortex after focal retinal lesions.
Figure 3: Structural reorganization in the visual cortex following retinal lesions.
Figure 4: Increased spine dynamics reflect functional reorganization.
Figure 5: Number of new persistent spines increases with functional recovery.

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Acknowledgements

We thank S. Hofer for contributing control data for the Supplementary Discussion. This work was supported by the Max Planck Society (T.K., T.D.M.-F., M.V.A., T.B. and M.H.), the Humboldt Foundation (T.D.M.-F.), the German Research Foundation SFB 509 (U.T.E.) and the Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia, Portugal (M.V.A.).

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  1. Thomas D Mrsic-Flogel

    Present address: Present address: Department of Physiology, University College London, 21 University Street, London, WC1E 6JJ, UK.,

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology, Am Klopfersptiz 18, Martinsried, D-82152, Germany

    Tara Keck, Thomas D Mrsic-Flogel, Miguel Vaz Afonso, Tobias Bonhoeffer & Mark Hübener

  2. Department of Neurophysiology, Ruhr University Bochum, Universitätsstrasse 150, Bochum, D-44780, Germany

    Ulf T Eysel

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  1. Tara Keck
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Correspondence to Mark Hübener.

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Keck, T., Mrsic-Flogel, T., Vaz Afonso, M. et al. Massive restructuring of neuronal circuits during functional reorganization of adult visual cortex. Nat Neurosci 11, 1162–1167 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.2181

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