title: Neuroscience: rewiring the adult brain.
abstract: Any analysis of plastic reorganization at a neuronal locus needs a veridical measure of changes in the functional output--that is, spiking responses of the neurons in question. In a study of the effect of retinal lesions on adult primary visual cortex (V1), Smirnakis et al. propose that there is no cortical reorganization. Their results are based, however, on BOLD (blood-oxygen-level-dependent) fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging), which provides an unreliable gauge of spiking activity. We therefore question their criterion for lack of plasticity, particularly in the light of the large body of earlier work that demonstrates cortical plasticity.
authors.affiliation: School of Biomedical Sciences, The University of Newcastle, New South Wales 2308, Australia.
authors.forename: Michael B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Calford
authors.forename: Yuzo M
authors.initials: YM
authors.lastname: Chino
authors.forename: Aniruddha
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Das
authors.forename: Ulf T
authors.initials: UT
authors.lastname: Eysel
authors.forename: Charles D
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Gilbert
authors.forename: Stephen J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Heinen
authors.forename: Jon H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Kaas
authors.forename: Shimon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ullman
mesh_terms: D000200:Action Potentials / Q000502:physiology; D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D008251:Macaca / Q000502:physiology*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity / Q000502:physiology*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012160:Retina / Q000293:injuries / Q000502:physiology; D014793:Visual Cortex / Q000502:physiology*