Reduced effects of monocular deprivation on a population of A-laminae neurons in the cat's dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus.

The generation of nerve cells for the cat's dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus takes place between embryonic day (E) 22 and E32. Neurons generated before E28 exhibit a full range of soma sizes and morphological features, whereas neurons generated after E28 have only smaller somata and a more limited array of morphological features. We measured the effects of monocular deprivation on neurons in the cat's dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus that were generated at different times, with birthdates defined by injections of 3H-thymidine. Whereas populations of nerve cells generated before E28 exhibit changes in cell size that are, on average, typical of those seen in monocularly deprived cats, populations of nerve cells generated after E28 are, on average, less affected by visual deprivation.