Does visual deprivation in adult animals affect macromolecular metabolism in visual neurons?

Abstract

Two-wave-length visible cytospectrophotometry of gallocyanin-stained sections has shown that 30-day-long visual deprivation in adult rats results in an augmentation of RNA content per cell in the neurons of all cell layers in visual cortex. Light stimulation which in normally reared rats brought about an accumulation of RNA in visual cortex neurons gave rise in light-deprived animals to a disappearance of the deprivation-induced increase of neuronal RNA content. In retina ganglion neurons, RNA content per cell was not changed after the visual deprivation as well as after the illumination of the deprived rats although in normal animals this stimulation evoked an increase of RNA content in the retina neurons. The conclusion is made about marked alterations in macromolecular metabolism induced by a long-term hypoactivity in central and peripheral visual neurons of adult animals.