Department of Neurobiology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA; Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA.
Neuron. 2013 Oct 2;80(1):198-209. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2013.07.023. Epub 2013 Sep 5.
Experience shapes neural circuits during critical periods in early life. The timing of critical periods is regulated by both genetics and the environment. Here we study the functional significance of such temporal regulations in the mouse primary visual cortex, where critical period plasticity drives binocular matching of orientation preference. We find that the binocular matching is permanently disrupted in mice that have a precocious critical period due to genetically enhanced inhibition. The disruption is specific to one type of neuron, the complex cells, which, as we reveal, normally match after the simple cells. Early environmental enrichment completely rescues the deficit by inducing histone acetylation and consequently advancing the matching process to coincide with the precocious plasticity. Our experiments thus demonstrate that the proper timing of the critical period is essential for establishing normal binocularity and the detrimental impact of its genetic misregulation can be ameliorated by environmental manipulations via epigenetic mechanisms.
经验在生命早期的关键期塑造神经回路。关键期的时间由遗传和环境共同调节。在这里，我们研究了在小鼠初级视觉皮层中这种时间调节的功能意义，在该区域，关键期可塑性驱动了方向偏好的双眼匹配。我们发现，由于遗传增强的抑制作用，提前进入关键期的小鼠的双眼匹配会永久受损。这种破坏是特定于一种神经元的，即复杂细胞，我们揭示了，正常情况下，简单细胞之后才会进行匹配。早期环境富集通过诱导组蛋白乙酰化，从而提前匹配过程，使其与提前的可塑性相吻合，完全挽救了这种缺陷。因此，我们的实验表明，关键期的适当时间对于建立正常的双眼视力是至关重要的，而其遗传调控失调的不利影响可以通过环境操作通过表观遗传机制来减轻。
