Profile of the sensitive period for monocular deprivation in kittens

Summary

Thirteen kittens were subjected to 10–12 days of unilateral eye closure at ages spaced regularly through the first 4 months after birth. At the end of each kitten's period of monocular vision, the degree of functional disconnection between the deprived eye and neurons in striate cortex was assessed by means of single-unit recording. When the proportion of cortical cells giving no response to stimulation through the deprived eye was analyzed as a function of the kitten's age at the onset of eye closure, it was found that the effectiveness of monocular deprivation rose prior to postnatal day 28, remained high through day 48 and then subsided gradually, probably persisting at least through the end of the fourth postnatal month. The degree of functional modifiability persisting in the visual cortex of older kittens may be related to the initial ocular dominance of each neuron. Cells responsive exclusively to the deprived eye prior to deprivation probably do not acquire functional input from the nondeprived eye in kittens older than 48 days, for a normal proportion of such cells is encountered after the period of eye closure. Conversely, cells dominated by the nondeprived eye probably are most likely to lose their input from the deprived eye, as indicated by the columnar organization of cells not responsive to the deprived eye.