Fig. 2.

Prior MD reduces the impact that a later MD has on soma size in the dLGN. Animals in our first group were subjected to a 7-day MD of the left eye at 30 days of age, followed by an interval of binocular vision before a 10-day MD of the right eye at 8 weeks (timeline in A). This group showed only a slight alteration of Nissl staining within deprived-eye (DE) layers (arrows in A for the right and left dLGN) compared to non-deprived eye layers (NDE) that was just visible at low (A) and high (B) magnification. Stereological quantification of soma area reflected our qualitative observations by showing a small (7%) reduction of soma area in deprived-eye layers that was not statistically significant (C). A comparison group was identically reared except it did not receive an early period of MD (timeline in D). This group exhibited an obvious effect of MD that was evident at both low (D) and high (E) magnification, in which deprived-eye neurons (arrows in D) were clearly smaller than those located in layers serving the non-deprived eye. Quantification of soma area revealed that deprived neurons were 15% smaller than non-deprived neurons, and this was a significant difference (F). Scale bars = 1 mm (A and D) and 50 μm (B and E). Images in B and E were taken from non-deprived (left image) and deprived (right image) dLGN A layers. Red and blue data points indicate measurements from A and A1 dLGN layers, respectively. Double asterisks indicate statistical significance (p < 0.05).