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Science 10 August 1990:
Vol. 249. no. 4969, pp. 669 - 672
DOI: 10.1126/science.2166343
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Articles

Science, Vol 249, Issue 4969, 669-672
Copyright © 1990 by American Association for the Advancement of Science

articles

Restoration of the plasticity of binocular maps by NMDA after the critical period in Xenopus

SB Udin and WJ Scherer

Department of Physiology, State University of New York, Buffalo 14214.

Visual input during a critical period of development plays a major role in the establishment of orderly connections in the developing visual system. In Xenopus laevis, the matching of visual maps from the two eyes to the optic tectum depends on binocular visual input during the critical period, which extends from late tadpole to early juvenile stages. Alterations in eye position, which produce a mismatch of the tectal maps, normally evoke a compensatory adjustment in the map of the ipsilateral eye only during the critical period. However, continuous application of the glutamate receptor agonist N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) after the normal end of the critical period restores this ability to realign the visual map.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Chronic NMDA Receptor Blockade from Birth Increases the Sprouting Capacity of Ipsilateral Retinocollicular Axons without Disrupting Their Early Segregation.
M. T. Colonnese and M. Constantine-Paton (2001)
J. Neurosci. 21, 1557-1568
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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)