Vision, cortical maps and neuronal plasticity in Bassoon and PSD-95 mutant mice.

TL;DRAbstract

Bassoon mutant mice (Bsn-/-) display a striking loss of synaptic ribbons in photoreceptor terminals, which impairs signal transduction through the retina (Altrock et al., 2003; Specht et al., 2007). Therefore we assessed vision in these mice behaviorally with the virtual-reality optomotor system (Prusky et al., 2004) and the visual water task (Prusky et al., 2000). In addition, we performed in vivo optical imaging of intrinsic signals (Kalatsky and Stryker, 2003). Our behavioral tests revealed that visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, and temporal resolution were significantly reduced in mutants compared to littermate controls, whereas the time course of visual development was not altered in Bsn-/- mice compared to their littermates. Optical imaging of visual cortical activity revealed no differences between Bsn-/- and Bsn+/+ mice, both magnitude of visual responses and quality of retinotopic maps were similar, which we interpret as evidence for the presence of homeostatic mechanisms (

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