# Deciphering Inhibition of Visual Plasticity by NgR1

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF LOUISVILLE · 2020 · $385,000

## Abstract

Abstract
The visual system exhibits a heightened sensitivity to the quality visual experience during an interval late in
development termed the `critical period'. Discordant vision during the critical period is the cause of amblyopia, a
prevalent visual disorder in children. Treatment of amblyopia is most effective in children before the close of
the critical period. Subsequently, the flexibility with brain circuitry diminishes in adulthood and effective therapy
is more difficult. In a mouse model of amblyopia, disrupting normal vision by closing one (monocular
deprivation, MD) for the duration of the critical period, but not thereafter, decreases visual acuity and perturbs
the normal eye dominance of neurons in visual cortex.
 The nogo-66 receptor gene (ngr1) is required to close the critical period. In ngr1 mutant mice, plasticity
during the critical period is normal, but it is retained in adult mice. Importantly, ngr1 mutant mice spontaneously
recover visual acuity in this model of amblyopia. Our overall hypothesis is that recovery of acuity and eye
dominance are independent. In the proposed research, we take advantage of this extended critical period in
ngr1 mice to identify with location and mechanisms of plasticity that mediate recovery of acuity and eye
dominance with a combination of conditional mouse genetics, behavioural assays, electrophysiology,
sophisticated repeated in vivo calcium imaging and laser-scanning photostimulation circuit mapping. We will
begin to unravel how plasticity within visual circuitry mediates recovery of visual function following early
abnormal vision (MD), as well as how this plasticity is restricted to the critical period with these experiments. In
addition to improving understanding of how experience-dependent plasticity changes the function of brain
circuits, these studies may reveal new avenues for developing therapeutic approaches to treat amblyopia.
.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9982965
- **Project number:** 5R01EY021580-09
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF LOUISVILLE
- **Principal Investigator:** Aaron W McGee
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $385,000
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2012-05-01 → 2022-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9982965

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9982965, Deciphering Inhibition of Visual Plasticity by NgR1 (5R01EY021580-09). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9982965. Licensed CC0.

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