Development of the Connections of the Primary Visual Cortex with the Movement Analysis Center: the Role of the Visual Environment

Abstract

The plasticity of visual corticocortical connections during ontogeny in an experimentally altered visual environment (stimulation with flashing lights) was studied by investigating the development of axonal connections between the primary visual cortex (field 17) and the visual movement analysis center in cats. A method based on retrograde axon transport using horseradish peroxidase as marker was used to study the distribution in field 17 of start neurons sending afferent fibers to the posteromedial part of the lateral suprasylvian sulcus in 16 kittens aged 5 and 12–14 weeks in conditions of a normal visual environment or with stimulation with flashing light (15 Hz). Sessions of stimulation with flashing light were found to lead to impairment to the normal development of the ordered organization of connections between these visual areas, with decreases in the area of labeling and the number of start neurons in field 17. These data clarify the structural grounds for the cortical mechanisms underlying impairments to the processing of information relating to the movement of visual objects in stimulated kittens.