Neuroscience 2004 Abstract
| Presentation Number: | 866.13 |
|---|---|
| Abstract Title: | Independent measures of visual function in each eye of the rat and mouse using directional optomotor responses. |
| Authors: |
McGill, T. J.*1
; Alam, N. M.1
; Silver, B. D.1
; Douglas, R. M.2
; Prusky, G. T.1
1Canadian Centre for Behavioural Neurosci., Univ. of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, Canada 2BC, 4401 Univ Dr W, T1K 3M2, |
| Primary Theme and Topics |
Sensory Systems - Vision -- Visual cortex: Functional organization and circuitry |
| Session: |
866. Visual Cortex: Learning and Plasticity II Poster |
| Presentation Time: | Wednesday, October 27, 2004 8:00 AM-9:00 AM |
| Location: | San Diego Convention Center - Hall A-H, Board # V5 |
| Keywords: | Visuomotor, Acuity, Thresholds, Asymmetry |
We reported previously (Douglas et al, SFN, 2003) that the spatial vision of freely moving rodents can be measured rapidly with head tracking in a virtual optomotor system. In this task, animals usually begin to track soon after the grating starts to move, and the tracking reverses when the direction of rotation is reversed. In most animals, the psychophysical threshold (the point at which tracking stops) recorded for each direction of motion differed slightly. We investigated the nature of this asymmetry and the role of the cortex in the visuomotor behavior in rats and mice first tested as adults. Since occluders are not tolerated well by unrestrained animals, we temporarily sutured each eye closed and tested the acuity and contrast sensitivity of the open eye using both directions of motion. Under these monocular viewing conditions, the animals tracked only when the gratings moved in the temporal-to-nasal direction. The thresholds for temporal-to-nasal motion were identical to those measured with the same rotations when viewed with both eyes. Visual thresholds can thus be measured for each eye separately when both are open, simply by using different directions of motion: clockwise motion measures the left eye; counterclockwise motion measures the right eye. Cortical lesions contralateral to the tested eye resulted in a small reduction in acuity and contrast sensitivity, suggesting that the neural circuitry underlying optomotor head tracking in rats and mice, like optokinetic eye movements, is largely subcortical. It will now be possible to measure eye-specific visual thresholds in experiments in which a manipulation is made in one eye, and the other eye is used as a control.
<B>Conflict of Interest:</B> GTP & RMD are owners of the company that makes the apparatus
Sample Citation:
[Authors]. [Abstract Title]. Program No. XXX.XX. 2004 Neuroscience Meeting Planner. San Diego, CA: Society for Neuroscience, 2004. Online.
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