Sensory experience and spontaneous activity play important roles in development of sensory circuits; however, their relative contributions are unclear. Here, we test the role of different forms of activity on remodeling of the mouse retinogeniculate synapse. We found that the bulk of maturation occurs without patterned sensory activity over 4 days spanning eye opening. During this early develop...

Whisker trimming causes substantial reorganization of neuronal response properties in barrel cortex. However, little is known about experience-dependent rerouting of sensory processing following sensory deprivation. To address this, we performed in vivo intracellular recordings from layers 2/3 (L2/3), layer 4 (L4), layer 5 regular-spiking (L5RS), and L5 intrinsically bursting (L5IB) neurons and...

to reduce stimulation to a minimum or to achieve "optimal" states of stimulation. The author's contention is that there is a drive for optimal levels of stimulation that leads organisms to avoid states where sensory variation is either too high or too low. This "sensoristatic drive" is a state of cortical arousal that is monitored by the reticular formation which serves as a regulator adjusting...

Sensory deprivation and injury to the peripheral nervous system both induce plasticity in the somatosensory system of adult animals, but in different places. While injury induces plasticity at several locations within the ascending somatosensory pathways, sensory deprivation appears only to affect the somatosensory cortex. Experiments have been performed to detect experience-dependent plasticit...

Background: Appropriate sensory excitation can improve brain synaptic contact and establish consciousness. Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate the sensory excitation delivered by family members and nurses on the level of consciousness in patients who are admitted to ICU. Method: In this clinical trial, 69 patients admitted to ICU in Ashair and Shafa Hospital, Khorammabad, were randoml...