Role of intracortical inhibition in deprivation amblyopia: reversal by microiontophoretic bicuculline.
The GABA antagonist, bicuculline, was microiontophoretically applied to 31 cells in the visual cortices of 4 cats monocularly deprived of vision from birth to time of study at age 5 months. Bicuculline restored input from the deprived eye to 42% of cells studied. Elevation of background firing rates by glutamate failed to restore deprived eye input. We suggest that intracortical inhibition plays an important role in maintaining the physiological abnormalities produced in visual cortex by monocular deprivation.
D000818:Animals; D001640:Bicuculline / Q000494:pharmacology*; D002415:Cats; D003423:Critical Period, Psychological; D004292:Dominance, Cerebral / Q000187:drug effects*; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000187:drug effects; D009433:Neural Inhibition / Q000187:drug effects*; D009474:Neurons / Q000187:drug effects; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D012683:Sensory Deprivation / Q000502:physiology*; D014793:Visual Cortex / Q000187:drug effects*; D014795:Visual Pathways / Q000187:drug effects; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000187:drug effects*; D005680:gamma-Aminobutyric Acid / Q000502:physiology
D005680:gamma-Aminobutyric Acid; D001640:Bicuculline