Reduced Synchronization in the Visual Cortex of Cats with Strabismic Amblyopia

Synchronous firing of spatially separate neurons was studied with multi‐electrode recordings in area 17 of the visual cortex of strabismic cats which had developed behaviourally verified amblyopia of the deviated eye. Responses of neurons were evoked with moving light bars or gratings of different spatial frequency. Neurons driven by the normal eye displayed stronger synchronization of their responses than neurons dominated by the amblyopic eye. These interocular differences were highly significant and particularly pronounced for grating stimuli of high spatial frequency. No interocular differences were noted with respect to the amplitudes of responses to the light bars and gratings. These results suggest reduced synchronization of population responses as a neurophysiological correlate of strabismic amblyopia and underline the importance of correlated firing of spatially separate cortical neurons for normal processing of visual information.

[1]  D. Hubel,et al.  Binocular interaction in striate cortex of kittens reared with artificial squint. , 1965, Journal of neurophysiology.

[2]  F. Duffy,et al.  Selective suppression of cerebral evoked potentials to patterned light in amblyopia ex anopsia. , 1969, Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology.

[3]  D. Hubel,et al.  The period of susceptibility to the physiological effects of unilateral eye closure in kittens , 1970, The Journal of physiology.

[4]  S. Sherman.  Development of interocular alignment in cats. , 1972, Brain research.

[5]  P. Milner.  A model for visual shape recognition. , 1974, Psychological review.

[6]  Frances Wilkinson,et al.  Visual resolution in young kittens , 1976, Vision Research.

[7]  R D Freeman,et al.  Eye alignment in kittens. , 1978, Journal of neurophysiology.

[8]  M. V. von Grünau.  The role of maturation and visual experience in the development of eye alignment in cats. , 1979, Experimental brain research.

[9]  F. Duffy,et al.  Animal models of strabismic amblyopia: physiological studies of visual cortex and the lateral geniculate nucleus. , 1982, Brain research.

[10]  Dennis M. Levi,et al.  Hyperacuity and amblyopia , 1982, Nature.

[11]  R. Freeman,et al.  An electrophysiological comparison of convergent and divergent strabismus in the cat: electrical and visual activation of single cortical cells. , 1983, Journal of neurophysiology.

[12]  Spatial vision in strabismic cats. , 1983, Journal of neurophysiology.

[13]  An electrophysiological comparison of convergent and divergent strabismus in the cat: visual evoked potentials. , 1983, Journal of neurophysiology.

[14]  Y. Chino,et al.  Effects of rearing kittens with convergent strabismus on development of receptive-field properties in striate cortex neurons. , 1983, Journal of neurophysiology.

[15]  F. Duffy,et al.  Animal models of strabismic amblyopia: Comparative behavioral studies , 1983, Behavioural Brain Research.

[16]  Dennis M. Levi,et al.  Vernier acuity, crowding and amblyopia , 1985, Vision Research.

[17]  U. Mitzdorf.  Current source-density method and application in cat cerebral cortex: investigation of evoked potentials and EEG phenomena. , 1985, Physiological reviews.

[18]  T. Wiesel,et al.  Relationships between horizontal interactions and functional architecture in cat striate cortex as revealed by cross-correlation analysis , 1986, The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience.

[19]  W. Singer,et al.  Temporal integration in amblyopic vision , 1986, Vision Research.

[20]  G. K. Noorden.  Amblyopia in Humans and Clinical Relevance of Animal Models , 1988 .

[21]  G. Orban,et al.  Response latencies of visual cells in macaque areas V1, V2 and V5 , 1989, Brain Research.

[22]  M K Habib,et al.  Dynamics of neuronal firing correlation: modulation of "effective connectivity". , 1989, Journal of neurophysiology.

[23]  W. Singer,et al.  Oscillatory responses in cat visual cortex exhibit inter-columnar synchronization which reflects global stimulus properties , 1989, Nature.

[24]  W. Singer,et al.  Stimulus‐Dependent Neuronal Oscillations in Cat Visual Cortex: Inter‐Columnar Interaction as Determined by Cross‐Correlation Analysis , 1990, The European journal of neuroscience.

[25]  P König,et al.  Direct physiological evidence for scene segmentation by temporal coding. , 1991, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[26]  W. Singer,et al.  Interhemispheric synchronization of oscillatory neuronal responses in cat visual cortex , 1991, Science.

[27]  VEP threshold and suprathreshold deficits in amblyopia , 1991 .

[28]  R. Sireteanu.  Restricted visual fields in both eyes of kittens raised with a unilateral, surgically induced strabismus : relationship to extrastriate cortical binocularity , 1991 .

[29]  Ruxandra Sireteanu,et al.  Two-dimensional spatial distortions in human strabismic amblyopia , 1991, Vision Research.

[30]  C Blakemore.  Different neural origins for 'blur' amblyopia and strabismic amblyopia , 1992 .

[31]  W. Singer,et al.  Selection of intrinsic horizontal connections in the visual cortex by correlated neuronal activity. , 1992, Science.

[32]  Development of visual acuity in kittens: a comparison between jumping stand and teller acuity card test , 1992 .

[33]  Ian E. Holliday,et al.  The spatial localization deficit in amblyopia , 1992, Vision Research.

[34]  W. Singer,et al.  Temporal coding in the visual cortex: new vistas on integration in the nervous system , 1992, Trends in Neurosciences.

[35]  John H. R. Maunsell,et al.  Visual response latencies in striate cortex of the macaque monkey. , 1992, Journal of neurophysiology.

[36]  R. Sireteanu,et al.  Squint‐induced Modification of Visual Receptive Field in the Lateral Suprasylvian Cortex of the Cat: Binocul Interaction, Vertical Effect and Anomalous Correspondence , 1992, The European journal of neuroscience.

[37]  L C Katz,et al.  Development of local circuits in mammalian visual cortex. , 1992, Annual review of neuroscience.

[38]  W. Singer.  Synchronization of cortical activity and its putative role in information processing and learning. , 1993, Annual review of physiology.

[39]  R. Sireteanu,et al.  Distortions in two-dimensional visual space perception in strabismic observers , 1993, Vision Research.

[40]  W. Singer,et al.  Squint Affects Synchronization of Oscillatory Responses in Cat Visual Cortex , 1993, The European journal of neuroscience.

[41]  G. Eschweiler,et al.  Temporal Integration in Visual Cortex of Cats with Surgically Induced Strabismus , 1993, The European journal of neuroscience.

[42]  William R. Softky,et al.  The highly irregular firing of cortical cells is inconsistent with temporal integration of random EPSPs , 1993, The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience.