17α Estradiol promotes plasticity of spared inputs in the adult amblyopic visual cortex.

ABSTRACT: The promotion of structural and functional plasticity by estrogens is a promising approach to enhance central nervous system function in the aged. However, how the sensitivity to estrogens is regulated across brain regions, age and experience is poorly understood. To ask if estradiol treatment impacts structural and functional plasticity in sensory cortices, we examined the acute effect of 17α-Estradiol in adult Long Evans rats following chronic monocular deprivation, a manipulation that reduces the strength and selectivity of deprived eye vision. Chronic monocular deprivation decreased thalamic input from the deprived eye to the binocular visual cortex and accelerated short-term depression of the deprived eye pathway, but did not change the density of excitatory synapses in primary visual

SUBMITTER: Sengupta DC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6910995 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature