School of Life Science, Anhui Normal University, Wuhu 241000, China.
Neurosci Bull. 2011 Feb;27(1):9-14. doi: 10.1007/s12264-011-1037-1.
To examine whether the selectivity of visual cortical neurons to stimulus spatial frequencies would be affected by aging in cats.
In vivo extracellular single-unit recording techniques were employed to record the tuning responses of V1 neurons to different stimulus spatial frequencies in old and young adult cats.
Statistical analysis showed that the mean optimal spatial frequency of grating stimuli that evoked the maximal response of V1 neurons in old cats was significantly lower than that in young adult cats. Furthermore, the mean high cut-off spatial frequency of grating stimuli that evoked the half amplitude of the maximal response of V1 neurons in old cats was also significantly lower than that in young adult cats.
These results are consistent with those reported in the V1 of old monkeys, suggesting that the age-related decline in the selectivity of visual cortical cells to spatial frequency could be generalized to all mammalian species and might contribute to visual acuity reduction in senescent individuals.
研究猫的视觉皮层神经元对刺激空间频率的选择性是否会随年龄增长而发生变化。
采用在体细胞外记录技术，记录老年和成年猫视皮层 1 区（V1）神经元对不同空间频率刺激的调谐反应。
统计分析显示，老年猫 V1 神经元对最大反应的最优光栅刺激空间频率的平均值明显低于成年猫。此外，老年猫 V1 神经元对最大反应半幅值的高截止光栅刺激空间频率的平均值也明显低于成年猫。
这些结果与老年猴 V1 中的报道一致，表明视觉皮层细胞对空间频率的选择性随年龄增长而下降可能在所有哺乳动物中普遍存在，并可能导致衰老个体的视觉锐度下降。
