Design of a noninvasive face mask for ocular occlusion in rats and assessment in a visual discrimination paradigm.

The rat visual system is structured such that the large (>90 %) majority of retinal ganglion axons reach the contralateral lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) and visual cortex (V1). This anatomical design allows for the relatively selective activation of one cerebral hemisphere under monocular viewing conditions. Here, we describe the design of a harness and face mask allowing simple and noninvasive monocular occlusion in rats.

Training-induced plasticity in the visual cortex of adult rats following visual discrimination learning.

Changes in synaptic efficacy, including long-term potentiation (LTP) and long-term depression (LTD), provide mechanisms for experience-induced plasticity and play a key role in learning processes. Some types of learning (e.g.

Assessment of different induction protocols to elicit long-term depression (LTD) in the rat visual cortex in vivo.

Changes in synaptic efficacy, including long-term potentiation (LTP) and long-term depression (LTD), provide mechanisms for experience-induced plasticity of cortical and subcortical circuits. LTP is readily induced under drastically different experimental conditions (e.g.