Monocular pattern discrimination performance in rabbits with unilateral interruption of the middle cerebral artery.

Rabbits were tested binocularly and with each eye separately, in pattern discriminations sensitive to the removal of the visual cortex opposite the exposed eye before and after the middle cerebral artery was unilaterally coagulated. Following surgery, the rabbits were not impaired in performing the discriminations with either eye; nor were any pathological changes found in the hemisphere in which surgery was performed. These findings imply that deficits in performing tasks dependent on the integrity of the visual cortical areas in rabbits may require interruption of the posterior and middle cerebral arteries, both of which supply the visual cortical areas.