Interlaminar differences in the effects of early and late monocular deprivation on the visual acuity of cells in the lateral geniculate nucleus of the cat

Visual acuity of single cells in the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) of normal cats is significantly higher in lamina A than in lamina A(1). After early deprivation, visual acuity is impaired in both deprived laminae [5]. Reverse closure and forced usage of the early deprived eye leads to a partial recovery of visual acuity. Recovery is more obvious in the LGN contralateral to the early deprived eye than in the ipsilateral LGN. Late deprivation effects are merely observed in the A(1) layers. In both hemispheres of reverse sutured cats the ratio of mean visual acuity of layer A to A(1) is larger than this ratio in normal cats.