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Environmental enrichment prevents effects of dark-rearing in the rat visual cortex

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Abstract

Environmental enrichment potentiates neural plasticity, enhancing acquisition and consolidation of memory traces1. In the sensory cortices, after cortical circuit maturation and sensory function acquisition are completed, neural plasticity declines and the critical period 'closes'2. In the visual cortex, this process can be prevented by dark-rearing, and here we show that environmental enrichment can promote physiological maturation and consolidation of visual cortical connections in dark-reared rats, leading to critical period closure.

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Figure 1: Environmental enrichment promotes consolidation of visual cortical connections in dark-reared rats.
Figure 2: Environmental enrichment prevents dark-rearing effects on CSPG developmental organization into perineuronal nets (PNNs) in the visual cortex.
Figure 3: Environmental enrichment promotes development of visual acuity in dark-reared rats.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by MIUR COFIN, Fondazione Telethon, FIRB and FISR.

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Author notes

  1. Alessandro Bartoletti and Paolo Medini: These authors contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Scuola Normale Superiore, Piazza dei Cavalieri, Pisa, Italy

    Alessandro Bartoletti, Paolo Medini & Lamberto Maffei

  2. Istituto di Neuroscienze del CNR, Via G. Moruzzi 1, Pisa, Italy

    Nicoletta Berardi & Lamberto Maffei

  3. Dipartimento di Psicologia, Università di Firenze, Via San Niccolò 93, Florence, Italy

    Nicoletta Berardi

Authors
  1. Alessandro Bartoletti
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  2. Paolo Medini
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  3. Nicoletta Berardi
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  4. Lamberto Maffei
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nicoletta Berardi.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Bartoletti, A., Medini, P., Berardi, N. et al. Environmental enrichment prevents effects of dark-rearing in the rat visual cortex. Nat Neurosci 7, 215–216 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn1201

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