title: Contrast gain control and cortical TrkB signaling shape visual acuity.
abstract: During development and aging and in amblyopia, visual acuity is far below the limitations set by the retina. Expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in the visual cortex is reduced in these situations. We asked whether neurotrophic tyrosine kinase receptor, type 2 (TrkB) regulates cortical visual acuity in adult mice. We found that genetically interfering with TrkB/BDNF signaling in pyramidal cells in the mature visual cortex reduced synaptic strength and resulted in a loss of neural responses to high spatial-frequency stimuli. Responses to low spatial-frequency stimuli were unaffected. This selective loss was not accompanied by a change in receptive field sizes or plasticity, but apparent contrast was reduced. Our results indicate that a dependence on spatial frequency in the Heeger normalization model explains this selective effect of contrast reduction on high-resolution vision and suggest that it involves contrast gain control operating in the visual cortex.
authors.affiliation: Molecular Visual Plasticity Group, Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. heimel@nin.knaw.nl
authors.forename: J Alexander
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Heimel
authors.forename: M Hadi
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Saiepour
authors.forename: Sridhara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chakravarthy
authors.forename: Josephine M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Hermans
authors.forename: Christiaan N
authors.initials: CN
authors.lastname: Levelt
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000818:Animals; D001703:Biophysics; D019208:Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor / Q000378:metabolism; D015350:Contrast Sensitivity / Q000502:physiology*; D023882:Dominance, Ocular / Q000502:physiology; D004558:Electric Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D051379:Mice; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D008959:Models, Neurological; D009433:Neural Inhibition / Q000502:physiology; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity / Q000502:physiology; D018408:Patch-Clamp Techniques / Q000379:methods; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D017966:Pyramidal Cells / Q000378:metabolism; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D020813:Receptor, trkB / Q000378:metabolism*; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000502:physiology*; D013569:Synapses / Q000502:physiology*; D055366:Synaptic Potentials / Q000235:genetics; D014792:Visual Acuity / Q000502:physiology*; D014793:Visual Cortex / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D019208:Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor; C485184:enhanced green fluorescent protein; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins; D020813:Receptor, trkB
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