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- Title
Specific GABAA circuits for visual cortical plasticity.
- Authors
Fagiolini, Michela; Fritschy, Jean-Marc; Löw, Karin; Möhler, Hanns; Rudolph, Uwe; Hensch, Takao K
- Abstract
Weak inhibition within visual cortex early in life prevents experience-dependent plasticity. Loss of responsiveness to an eye deprived of vision can be initiated prematurely by enhancing gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)-mediated transmission with benzodiazepines. Here, we use a mouse "knockin" mutation to alpha subunits that renders individual GABA type A (GABA(A)) receptors insensitive to diazepam to show that a particular inhibitory network controls expression of the critical period. Only alpha1-containing circuits were found to drive cortical plasticity, whereas alpha2-enriched connections separately regulated neuronal firing. This dissociation carries implications for models of brain development and the safe design of benzodiazepines for use in infants.
- Publication
Science (New York, N.Y.), 2004, Vol 303, Issue 5664, p1681
- ISSN
1095-9203
- Publication type
Journal Article
- DOI
10.1126/science.1091032