# Synaptic plasticity in young versus aged cortex

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIV OF MARYLAND, COLLEGE PARK · 2020 · $407,109

## Abstract

Project Summary
The decline in synaptic plasticity with age is thought to impose severe constraints on the recovery from
amblyopia in adults. Although this developmental loss was previously thought to be irreversible, our previous
work established that robust plasticity can be reactivated in the adult visual cortex via visual deprivation by
dark exposure. Furthermore, dark exposure followed by instructive visual experience enables complete
recovery from severe amblyopia in adulthood. Our previous work assumed that the elimination of visual input
during dark exposure was sufficient to reactivate plasticity. However, our preliminary data demonstrate that
light reintroduction after dark exposure is responsible for the reactivation of structural and functional plasticity
in the adult mouse visual cortex. We propose to show that LRx following dark exposure increases the activity
of a key extracellular protease (matrix metalloprotease-9) at thalamic inputs to cortical neuron and a counter-
intuitive decrease in the excitability of regular spiking neurons to reactivate robust plasticity in the adult dark-
exposed cortex.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9891059
- **Project number:** 5R01EY016431-13
- **Recipient organization:** UNIV OF MARYLAND, COLLEGE PARK
- **Principal Investigator:** Elizabeth Mary Quinlan
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $407,109
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2006-09-01 → 2022-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9891059

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9891059, Synaptic plasticity in young versus aged cortex (5R01EY016431-13). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9891059. Licensed CC0.

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