Initial hypertrophy of cells in undeprived laminae of the lateral geniculate nucleus of the monkey following early monocular visual deprivation.

Comparisons of mean cell area in the lateral geniculate nucleus between normal and monocularly deprived Rhesus monkeys show that closure started in the first few days of life produces an initial hypertrophy of up to 25% affecting undeprived parvocellular cells. Hypertrophy is maximal at 4 weeks. Following this there is later shrinkage affecting both deprived and undeprived parvocellular cells so that ultimately undeprived parvocellular cells are about 10% smaller and deprived parvocellular cells about 35% smaller than corresponding cells in normal animals.