Selective loss of lateral geniculate cells in the adult cat after chronic monocular paralysis.

Adult cats with chronic (two weeks) monocular paralysis had lateral geniculates with diminished numbers of cells characterized by long latency responses to optic chiasm shock. This diminution was unexpectedly more prominent among lamina A1 cells, driven by the mobile and presumably normal eye, than among cells receiving inputs from the paralyzed eye. These results confirm reports suggesting that a hitherto unrecognized degree of plasticity exists in the central nervous system of the adult cat.