Environmental enrichment in adulthood promotes amblyopia recovery through a reduction of intracortical inhibition (original) (raw)
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- Published: 29 April 2007
- José Fernando Maya Vetencourt1 na1,
- Paolo Medini2,
- Maria Cristina Cenni2,
- Laura Baroncelli1,
- Roberto De Pasquale1 &
- …
- Lamberto Maffei1,2
Nature Neuroscience volume 10, pages 679–681 (2007)Cite this article
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Abstract
Loss of visual acuity caused by abnormal visual experience during development (amblyopia) is an untreatable pathology in adults. We report that environmental enrichment in adult amblyopic rats restored normal visual acuity and ocular dominance. These effects were due to reduced GABAergic inhibition in the visual cortex, accompanied by increased expression of BDNF and reduced density of extracellular-matrix perineuronal nets, and were prevented by enhancement of inhibition through benzodiazepine cortical infusion.
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Acknowledgements
We thank F. Clementi for kindly providing us the diazepam and A. Viegi for his technical assistance with high-performance liquid chromatography. This work was supported by grants from Ministero dell'Università e della Ricerca (MIUR), Programmi di Ricerca di Rilevante Interesse Nazionale (PRIN) and Fondo Integrativo Speciale Ricerca (FISR).
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Author notes
- Alessandro Sale and José Fernando Maya Vetencourt: These authors contributed equally to this work.
Authors and Affiliations
- Scuola Normale Superiore, Piazza dei Cavalieri, Pisa, I-56100, Italy
Alessandro Sale, José Fernando Maya Vetencourt, Laura Baroncelli, Roberto De Pasquale & Lamberto Maffei - Institute of Neuroscience, CNR, Via Moruzzi 1, Pisa, I-56100, Italy
Paolo Medini, Maria Cristina Cenni & Lamberto Maffei
Authors
- Alessandro Sale
You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar - José Fernando Maya Vetencourt
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Contributions
A.S. and J.F.M.V. contributed equally to this work. A.S. carried out the in vivo electrophysiology, behavioral experiments, immunohistochemistry and assisted in the in vivo brain microdialysis. J.F.M.V. carried out the in vivo brain microdialysis, high performance liquid chromatography and assisted in the in vivo electrophysiology. P.M. carried out the in vivo electrophysiology and M.C.C., the immunohistochemistry experiments. L.B. performed the behavioral assessment of visual acuity in normal rats and R.D.P., the in vitro electrophysiology. A.S., J.F.M.V. and L.M. wrote the manuscript. All authors discussed the results and commented on the manuscript.
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Correspondence toAlessandro Sale.
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The authors declare no competing financial interests.
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Sale, A., Maya Vetencourt, J., Medini, P. et al. Environmental enrichment in adulthood promotes amblyopia recovery through a reduction of intracortical inhibition.Nat Neurosci 10, 679–681 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn1899
- Received: 06 March 2007
- Accepted: 26 March 2007
- Published: 29 April 2007
- Issue Date: June 2007
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nn1899