title: Monocular and binocular deprivation in the monkey: morphological effects and reversibility.
abstract: Measurements were made of the cross-sectional area of neurons in the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) of normal monkeys, and of monkeys subjected to monocular and binocular eyelid suture. Early monocular deprivation caused a failure of normal cell growth in the LGN such that the neurons in the laminae innervated by the deprived eye were, on average, 15% smaller than those innervated by the normal eye. In the first 4 days of life monocular deprivation caused significant retardation of growth. The effect was marked in the first 6 weeks, but was not found in a monkey monocularly deprived from 11-16 months of age nor in an adult deprived for more than 6 months. Binocular deprivation from birth appeared to arrest neuronal growth at the neonatal size. The effect of monocular deprivation could be cancelled by 'reverse-suture' (opening the closed eye and closing the other) during the first 2 months of life. Changes in the size of LGN neurons following monocular deprivation and reverse-suture correlated closely with changes in the relative width of ocular dominance columns in layer IVc of area 17 of the visual cortex, measured physiologically in the same animals.
authors.affiliation: Institut d'Anatomie, University of Lausanne, CH-1011 Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Vital-Durand
authors.forename: L J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Garey
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Blakemore
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000818:Animals; D002452:Cell Count / Q000379:methods; D048429:Cell Size; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology*; D005829:Geniculate Bodies / Q000166:cytology / Q000473:pathology*; D000882:Haplorhini / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000145:classification; D008297:Male; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity / Q000502:physiology*; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology; D012683:Sensory Deprivation / Q000502:physiology*; D013997:Time Factors; D014793:Visual Cortex / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology; D014795:Visual Pathways / Q000502:physiology