Abstract 

The roles played by cortical inhibitory neurons in experience-dependent plasticity and learning are not well understood. Here we evaluate the participation of parvalbumin-expressing (PV+) GABAergic neurons in two forms of experience-dependent modification of primary visual cortex (V1) in adult mice: ocular dominance (OD) plasticity resulting from monocular deprivation and stimulus-selective response potentiation (SRP) resulting from supplemental visual experience. These two forms of plasticity are triggered by different events but lead to a similar increase in visual cortical response. Both also require the NMDA class of glutamate receptor (NMDAR). However, we find that PV+ inhibitory neurons in V1 play a critical role in the expression of SRP and its behavioral correlate of familiarity recognition, but not in the expression of OD plasticity. Furthermore, NMDARs expressed within PV+ cells play a critical role in SRP, but not in the induction or expression of adult OD plasticity. We also explore the use of visual cortical plasticity paradigms to better understand the function of proteins implicated in autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) and schizophrenia.

Thesis supervisor: Mark F. Bear, Ph.D. 

Title: Picower Professor of Neuroscience