[Spatial reorganization of horizontal connections of cat cortical area 17 induced by eye rotation].

In six cats with experimental unilateral or bilateral strabismus, surgically induced early in postnatal life, torsion eye rotation with a deviation angle of 10 to 20 degrees was also detected. Spatial distribution of retrogradely labeled neurons in area 17 was studied following microiontophoretic injection of horseradish peroxidase in area 17 or 18 cortical columns. Eye rotation was shown to cause the increase of the length of horizontal neuronal connections in area 17 along the projection of visual field vertical meridian. The reorganization of neuronal connections, detected in this work, may promote the functional changes, described in the literature, that compensate for the eye rotation.