| First Author | Frantz MG | Year | 2020 |
| Journal | Curr Biol | Volume | 30 |
| Issue | 15 | Pages | 2962-2973.e5 |
| PubMed ID | 32589913 | Mgi Jnum | J:337339 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:6728392 | Doi | 10.1016/j.cub.2020.05.067 |
| Citation | Frantz MG, et al. (2020) Layer 4 Gates Plasticity in Visual Cortex Independent of a Canonical Microcircuit. Curr Biol 30(15):2962-2973.e5 |
| abstractText | Disrupting binocular vision during a developmental critical period can yield enduring changes to ocular dominance (OD) in primary visual cortex (V1). Here we investigated how this experience-dependent plasticity is coordinated within the laminar circuitry of V1 by deleting separately in each cortical layer (L) a gene required to close the critical period, nogo-66 receptor (ngr1). Deleting ngr1 in excitatory neurons in L4, but not in L2/3, L5, or L6, prevented closure of the critical period, and adult mice remained sensitive to brief monocular deprivation. Intracortical disinhibition, but not thalamocortical disinhibition, accompanied this OD plasticity. Both juvenile wild-type mice and adult mice lacking ngr1 in L4 displayed OD plasticity that advanced more rapidly L4 than L2/3 or L5. Interestingly, blocking OD plasticity in L2/3 with the drug AM-251 did not impair OD plasticity in L5. We propose that L4 restricts disinhibition and gates OD plasticity independent of a canonical cortical microcircuit. |
