Clock Genes Control Cortical Critical Period Timing

Clock Genes Control Cortical Critical Period Timing

Circadian rhythms control a variety of physiological processes, but whether they may also time brain development remains largely unknown. Here, we show that circadian clock genes control the onset of critical period plasticity in the neocortex. Within visual cortex of Clock-deficient mice, the emergence of circadian gene expression was dampened, and the maturation of inhibitory parvalbumin (PV)...

QTL for timing: a natural diversity of clock genes.

period and timeless Tango: A dance of two clock genes

Circadian rhythms are genetically determined biological oscillations evident in virtually all plants and animals, and even some prokaryotes. Circadian rhythms are generated by endogenous timing mechanisms referred to as biological or circadian clocks. Signature features of circadian clocks include an endogenous cycle length (period) of about 24 hr, daily sensitivity to resetting (entraining) st...

Adolescent cortical development: a critical period of vulnerability for addiction.

Cortical growth and remodeling continues from birth through youth and adolescence to stable adult levels changing slowly into senescence. There are critical periods of cortical development when specific experiences drive major synaptic rearrangements and learning that only occur during the critical period. For example, visual cortex is characterized by a critical period of plasticity involved i...

Transcriptomics of critical period of visual cortical plasticity in mice.

In contrast to the prenatal development of the cerebral cortex, when cell production, migration, and layer formation dominate, development after birth involves more subtle processes, such as activity-dependent plasticity that includes refinement of synaptic connectivity by its stabilization and elimination. In the present study, we use RNA-seq with high spatial resolution to examine differentia...