The Refinement of Ipsilateral Eye Retinotopic Maps Is Increased by Removing the Dominant Contralateral Eye in Adult Mice

BACKGROUND: Shortly after eye opening, initially disorganized visual cortex circuitry is rapidly refined to form smooth retinotopic maps. This process asymptotes long before adulthood, but it is unknown whether further refinement is possible. Prior work from our lab has shown that the retinotopic map of the non-dominant ipsilateral eye develops faster when the dominant contralateral eye is removed. We examined whether input from the contralateral eye might also limit the ultimate refinement of the ipsilateral eye retinotopic map in adults. In addition, we examined whether the increased refinement involved the recruitment of adjacent cortical area. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: By surgically implanting a chronic optical window over visual cortex in mice, we repeatedly measured the degree of retinotopic map refinement using quantitative intrinsic signal optical imaging over four weeks. We removed the contralateral eye and observed that the retinotopic map for the ipsilateral eye was further refined and the maximum magnitude of response increased. However, these changes were not accompanied by an increase in the area of responsive cortex. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Since the retinotopic map was functionally refined to a greater degree without taking over adjacent cortical area, we conclude that input from the contralateral eye limits the normal refinement of visual cortical circuitry in mice. These findings suggest that the refinement capacity of cortical circuitry is normally saturated.