Bear M F, Daniels J D
J Neurosci. 1983 Feb;3(2):407-16. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.03-02-00407.1983.
In order to clarify the role of norepinephrine (NE) in visual cortical plasticity, we monocularly deprived kittens that had received systemic injections of the neurotoxin 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) shortly after birth. We found, using high pressure liquid chromatography, that this means of drug treatment produces a permanent and substantial reduction in the level of cortical NE as compared with littermate controls. Nonetheless, single unit recording in area 17 of these kittens revealed no difference in the cortical response to monocular deprivation: both drug-treated and control kittens displayed large ocular dominance shifts to the open eye. Because local depletion of NE by intracortical 6-OHDA in kittens can prevent the expected ocular dominance shift after short-term monocular deprivation, we propose that neocortex has the capacity to compensate for chronic depletion of NE in a way which allows for the possibility of plastic changes.
为了阐明去甲肾上腺素（NE）在视觉皮层可塑性中的作用，我们对出生后不久接受了神经毒素6-羟基多巴胺（6-OHDA）全身注射的小猫进行单眼剥夺。我们通过高压液相色谱法发现，与同窝对照相比，这种药物治疗方式使皮层NE水平产生了永久性且显著的降低。尽管如此，对这些小猫17区的单单位记录显示，皮层对单眼剥夺的反应并无差异：药物处理组和对照组小猫均表现出明显的眼优势向睁开眼转移。由于小猫皮层内注射6-OHDA导致局部NE耗竭可阻止短期单眼剥夺后预期的眼优势转移，我们提出新皮层有能力以一种允许发生可塑性变化的方式来补偿NE的慢性耗竭。
