Structural and functional recovery from early monocular deprivation in adult rats

doi:10.1073/pnas.0602657103

Structural and functional recovery from early monocular deprivation in adult rats

*Istituto di Neuroscienze, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Via Moruzzi 1, 56100 Pisa, Italy;
^†Dipartimento di Psicologia, Università di Firenze, 50123 Firenze, Italy; and
^¶Scuola Normale Superiore, 56100 Pisa, Italy

Communicated by Emilio Bizzi, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, March 31, 2006
↵ ^‡T.P. and P.M. contributed equally to this work. (received for review December 15, 2005)

Abstract

Visual deficits caused by abnormal visual experience during development are hard to recover in adult animals. Removal of chondroitin sulfate proteoglycans from the mature extracellular matrix with chondroitinase ABC promotes plasticity in the adult visual cortex. We tested whether chondroitinase ABC treatment of adult rats facilitates anatomical, functional, and behavioral recovery from the effects of a period of monocular deprivation initiated during the critical period for monocular deprivation. We found that chondroitinase ABC treatment coupled with reverse lid-suturing causes a complete recovery of ocular dominance, visual acuity, and dendritic spine density in adult rats. Thus, manipulations of the extracellular matrix can be used to promote functional recovery in the adult cortex.

Footnotes

^§To whom correspondence may be addressed at:
Istituto Neuroscienze, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Via Moruzzi 1, 56100 Pisa, Italy.
E-mail: tommaso{at}in.cnr.it
^‖To whom correspondence may be addressed. E-mail: medini{at}in.cnr.it
Author contributions: T.P., P.M., N.B., and L.M. designed research; T.P., P.M., S.L., S.B., and N.B. performed research; T.P., P.M., S.L., S.B., and N.B. analyzed data; and T.P., P.M., and L.M. wrote the paper.
Conflict of interest statement: No conflicts declared.
Abbreviations:

Abbreviations:

chABC,

chondroitinase ABC;

CBI,

contralateral bias index;

CSPG,

chondroitin sulfate proteoglycan;

MD,

monocular deprivation/monocularly deprived;

Pn,

postnatal day n;

PNN,

perineuronal net;

RS,

reverse lid-suturing/reverse lid-sutured;

VEP,

visually evoked potential;

WFA,

Wisteria floribunda agglutinin lectin;

P-ase,

penicillinase.