Department of Functional Architecture and Development of Cerebral Cortex, Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience, Jupiter, FL 33458, USA.
Department of Functional Architecture and Development of Cerebral Cortex, Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience, Jupiter, FL 33458, USA.
Neuron. 2020 Jul 22;107(2):338-350.e5. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2020.04.022. Epub 2020 May 18.
Across sensory areas, neural microcircuits consolidate streams of information into unified representations of the external world. In the carnivore visual cortex, where eye-specific inputs first converge, it has been posited that a single, binocularly aligned modular orientation representation develops independent of sensory experience. In this study of ferret visual cortex using in vivo calcium imaging, we find evidence for a different developmental process. Early in development, contralateral, ipsilateral, or binocular stimulation each yield well-organized modular representations of orientation that display features of mature cortex. However, comparison of these representations reveals considerable misalignment that is evident at both modular and cellular scales. Experience-dependent processes drive reorganization of these three representations toward a single binocularly aligned representation resembling the early binocular representation through shifts in cellular orientation preference. Thus, while orderly modular networks of orientation preference initially arise independent of visual experience, experience is critical for the alignment of these early representations.
在各个感觉区域，神经微电路将信息流整合为外部世界的统一表示。在食肉动物的视觉皮层中，特定于眼睛的输入首先汇聚，有人假设，一种单一的、双眼对齐的模块方向表示形式独立于感觉经验而发展。在这项使用体内钙成像技术的雪貂视觉皮层研究中，我们发现了一种不同的发育过程的证据。在发育早期，对侧、同侧或双眼刺激都能产生组织良好的方向模块表示形式，表现出成熟皮层的特征。然而，对这些表示形式的比较揭示了相当大的错位，这种错位在模块和细胞尺度上都很明显。依赖经验的过程通过细胞方向偏好的转变，将这三种表示形式向类似于早期双眼表示形式的单一双眼对齐表示形式进行重组。因此，虽然有序的方向偏好模块网络最初独立于视觉经验而产生，但经验对于这些早期表示形式的对齐至关重要。
