# Origins of plasticity in the establishment of binocular vision

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES · 2024 · $663,234

## Abstract

Project Summary
How experience influences the formation of neural circuits during mammalian development remains among the
most fascinating questions confronting developmental neurobiologists. Over the past 50 years, studies of
vision-dependent circuitry forming in the binocular visual cortex in carnivores, non-human primates and the
mouse has led to a deep appreciation of this phenomenon. New technological developments, including the
imaging of neural activity of individual cells in awake behaving animals, single cell labeling and transcriptomics,
and large-scale electrophysiology, has opened the door to revisit classic questions in the field by tracking the
development of individual neurons and cell types. In a series of recent studies, we established that visual
experience soon after eye opening most profoundly shapes the development and refinement of cortical
responses to the ipsilateral eye and that this experience-dependent plasticity sets the upper limit on binocular
acuity. The locus of plasticity in the circuitry of primary visual cortex, and the role played by inhibition, remain
unknown. The goal of this proposal is to systematically interrogate the visual pathway from thalamus to cortex
and within cortex to gain a mechanistic understanding of how visual experience informs the establishment of
cortical responses to the ipsilateral eye and, thus, binocular vision. There are three Specific Aims. In Aim 1, we
will examine the development of the thalamocortical projection to V1 in layer 2/3 and 4 for both eyes. We will
determine whether there are laminar differences in this organization as a function of eye and visual experience.
In Aim 2, we will examine how this geniculate input is integrated by recipient cortical neurons. We will
determine if there are differences in this integration for ipsilateral and contralateral eye inputs to excitatory and
inhibitory neurons and whether visual experience is necessary for its establishment. And in Aim 3, we will
explore and test the role of intracortical inhibition in refining ipsilateral eye input as a function of vision. None of
these measurements have been made for binocular neurons in any species but are critically needed to obtain
an understanding of the origins of high acuity binocular vision. We envision that these studies will establish
general principles by which experience influences the development of the mammalian cortex.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10877608
- **Project number:** 2R01EY023871-10A1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES
- **Principal Investigator:** Joshua Trachtenberg
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $663,234
- **Award type:** 2
- **Project period:** 2013-09-01 → 2029-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10877608

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10877608, Origins of plasticity in the establishment of binocular vision (2R01EY023871-10A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-28 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10877608. Licensed CC0.

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