Adult plasticity in the visual system

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Abstract
When visual cortical neurons in adult mammals are deprived of their normal afferent input from retinae, they are capable of acquiring new receptive fields by modifying the effectiveness of existing intrinsic connections, a basis for topographic map reorganization. To gain insights into the underlying mechanisms and functional significance of this adult plasticity, we measured the spatial limits and time course of retinotopic map reorganization. We also determined whether reactivated neurons exhibit normal receptive field properties. We found that virtually all units in the denervated zone of cortex acquired new receptive fields (i.e., there were no silent areas in the cortex) and map reorganization can take place within hours of deafferentation provided that retinal lesions are relatively small (