title: Identification of disabled-1 as a candidate gene for critical period neuroplasticity in cat and mouse visual cortex.
abstract: Rearing in darkness slows the time course of the critical period in visual cortex, such that at 5 weeks of age normal cats are more plastic than dark-reared cats, whereas at 20 weeks dark-reared cats are more plastic [G. D. Mower (1991)Dev. Brain Res., 58, 151-158]. Thus, a stringent criterion is that genes that are important for plasticity in visual cortex will show differences in expression between normal and dark-reared visual cortex that are of opposite direction in young vs. older animals. The present study reports the identification by differential display PCR of Dab-1, the mammalian homolog of the drosophila disabled-1 gene, as a candidate gene for critical period neuronal plasticity, expression of which is regulated according to this criterion in cat visual cortex. Evidence for this bidirectional direction regulation is extended to Dab-1 protein in cat and mouse visual cortex and shown to be specific to visual cortex, not occurring in frontal cortex. The Reelin/Dab-1 pathway has well-documented functions in cell migration during prenatal life and increasing evidence indicates that in postnatal brain the pathway plays a role in synaptic plasticity. The present results extend this evidence by directly implicating Dab-1 in postnatal critical period plasticity of visual cortex.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomical Sciences and Neurobiology, University of Louisville, KY 40202, USA.
authors.forename: Cui Bo
authors.initials: CB
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Yu Ting
authors.initials: YT
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: Paul J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Kiser
authors.forename: George D
authors.initials: GD
authors.lastname: Mower
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015152:Blotting, Northern; D015153:Blotting, Western; D002415:Cats; D003624:Darkness; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D051379:Mice; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity / Q000235:genetics*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D000091042:Reelin Protein; D012683:Sensory Deprivation; D014793:Visual Cortex / Q000254:growth & development*
chemical_list: C103773:Dab1 protein, mouse; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; D000091042:Reelin Protein; C000717128:Reln protein, mouse