L-threo-3,4-dihydroxyphenylserine enhanced ocular dominance plasticity in adult cats.
We studied whether ocular dominance plasticity can be restored to the aplastic visual cortex of the adult cat by peripheral administration of L-threo-3,4-dihydroxyphenylserine (L-threo-DOPS), an exogenous precursor of L-noradrenaline (NA). We found that NA output in the visuocortical dialysate was significantly increased by a single administration of L-threo-DOPS (200 mg or 1 g, i.p.). Single unit recordings revealed a significant reduction of binocular cells (binocularity = 0.30) in juvenile cats (7-8 months of age) that had been monocularly deprived for one month in combination with L-threo-DOPS (200 mg/day, per os). These results suggest that peripheral administration of L-threo-DOPS enhances ocular dominance plasticity, presumably through activation of the central noradrenergic system.
Mataga
N
N
Department of Neuroscience, Osaka Bioscience Institute, Japan.
Imamura
K
K
Watanabe
Y
Y
D000818:Animals; D002415:Cats; D015103:Droxidopa / Q000494:pharmacology*; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000187:drug effects*; D009638:Norepinephrine / Q000378:metabolism; D015349:Vision, Monocular / Q000502:physiology; D014793:Visual Cortex / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology
D015103:Droxidopa; D009638:Norepinephrine