Effect of neonatal unilateral enucleation on the development of orientation selectivity in the primary visual cortex of normally and dark-reared kittens.

The developmental properties of 573 neurones have been investigated in the primary visual cortex of eight binocularly intact and twelve unilaterally enucleated kittens. It is shown that removal of one eye at birth alters the development of orientation selectivity observed in the presence or absence of visual experience. In 6-week-old deprived kittens, there remain significantly more orientation selective cells in enucleated than in binocularly deprived kittens. These deprivation-resistant cells respond preferentially to horizontal or vertical orientations and are recorded mainly in the cortex contralateral to the remaining eye. In six-week-old kittens with visual experience, the process of tuning maturation appears to be unaffected by unilateral enucleation at birth. However, a larger over-representation of horizontal and vertical orientation preferences is observed in uniocular kittens than in binocularly intact kittens, suggesting that the development of oblique orientation preference depends upon the presence of binocular afferents in the visual pathway.