Herrmann K, Bischof H J
Exp Brain Res. 1986;64(1):119-26. doi: 10.1007/BF00238207.
We evaluated in zebra finches the effects of monocular deprivation on morphological and physiological features of the nucleus rotundus, the thalamic relay station of the tectofugal pathway. In a first series of experiments neuron size and total volume were estimated in animals deprived for 20, 40 and at least 100 days and compared to values obtained from normally reared birds. Monocular closure for more than 40 days causes a marked hypertrophy in cells receiving their main input from the open eye, whereas the deprived cells are normal in size. However, with only 20 days of monocular deprivation both deprived and non-deprived rotundal neurons are larger than normal. This indicates that monocular closure has a biphasic effect: firstly, an unselective hypertrophy of deprived and non-deprived neurons, and secondly, a subsequent period of shrinkage of the deprived cells to normal values, while cells driven by the open eye remain hypertrophied. The total volume of the deprived n. rotundus turns out to be smaller in all age groups. In a second series of experiments the activity of the n. rotundus of animals monocularly deprived from birth for 100 days was investigated with the 2-deoxyglucose-method (Sokoloff et al. 1977). With binocular stimulation the activity of the deprived n. rotundus was reduced by about 40%. Depriving adult animals for 100 days does not result in asymmetric labeling of the n. rotundus. We interpretate the 2-DG data as evidence for the existence of a sensitive period for the effects of monocular deprivation. The anatomical data suggest, however, that the effects of monocular deprivation in birds are different from those observed in mammals.
我们在斑胸草雀中评估了单眼剥夺对视叶圆核（顶盖离中通路的丘脑中继站）形态和生理特征的影响。在第一组实验中，我们估计了剥夺20天、40天和至少100天的动物的神经元大小和总体积，并将其与正常饲养鸟类的值进行比较。单眼闭合超过40天会导致主要从睁开的眼睛接收输入的细胞明显肥大，而被剥夺的细胞大小正常。然而，仅单眼剥夺20天时，被剥夺和未被剥夺的视叶圆核神经元都比正常的大。这表明单眼闭合有双相效应：首先，被剥夺和未被剥夺的神经元出现非选择性肥大；其次，随后被剥夺的细胞会萎缩至正常值，而由睁开的眼睛驱动的细胞仍保持肥大。在所有年龄组中，被剥夺的视叶圆核总体积都较小。在第二组实验中，我们用2-脱氧葡萄糖法（Sokoloff等人，1977年）研究了从出生起单眼剥夺100天的动物的视叶圆核活性。在双眼刺激下，被剥夺的视叶圆核活性降低了约40%。剥夺成年动物100天不会导致视叶圆核的不对称标记。我们将2-DG数据解释为单眼剥夺效应存在敏感期的证据。然而，解剖学数据表明，鸟类单眼剥夺的效应与哺乳动物中观察到的不同。
