Fig. 1.

Anatomical effects of an early and brief MD resolve with provision of binocular vision. The experimental timeline for the MD condition and the MD with subsequent binocular vision (BV) condition is shown in A. Following 7 days of MD, the soma area of neurons in dLGN layers connected to the deprived eye was reduced by 20% when compared to neurons within layers serving the non-deprived eye (B). When the deprived eye was opened and binocular vision was provided for 8 days, deprived neurons fully recovered and matched the size of non-deprived counterparts (B). Similar results were obtained when the dLGN was examined for neurofilament protein. Following 7 days of MD there was a 51% reduction in the density of neurofilament-positive neurons within deprived layers of the dLGN (C). When 8 days of binocular vision was provided after the period of MD, there was a complete recovery of neurofilament density so that the deprived and non-deprived layers were indistinguishable. Red and blue data points indicate measurements from A and A1 dLGN layers, respectively. Double asterisks indicate statistical significance (p < 0.05).