Stability in the Face of Change: Lifelong Experience-Dependent Plasticity in the Sensory Cortex

Abstract

Plasticity is a fundamental property of the nervous system that enables its adaptations to the ever-changing environment. Heightened plasticity typical for developing circuits facilitates their robust experience-dependent functional maturation. This plasticity wanes during adolescence to permit the stabilization of mature brain function, but abundant evidence supports that adult circuits exhibit both transient and long-term experienceinduced plasticity. Cortical plasticity has been extensively studied throughout the life span in sensory systems and the main distinction between development and adulthood arising from these studies is the concept that passive exposure to relevant information is sufficient to drive robust plasticity early in life, while higher-order attentional mechanisms are necessary to drive plastic changes in adults. Recent work in the primary visual and auditory cortices began to define the circuit mechanisms that govern these processes and enable continuous adaptation to the environment, with transient circuit disinhibition emerging as a common prerequisite for both developmental and adult plasticity. Drawing from studies in visual and auditory systems, this review article summarizes recent reports on the circuit and cellular mechanisms of experience-driven plasticity in the developing and adult brains and emphasizes the similarities and differences between them. The benefits of distinct plasticity mechanisms used at different ages are discussed in the context of sensory learning, as well as their relationship to maladaptive plasticity and neurodevelopmental brain disorders. Knowledge gaps and avenues for future work are highlighted, and these will hopefully motivate future research in these areas, particularly those about the learning of complex skills during development.

The homeostatic homunculus: rethinking deprivation-triggered reorganisation

“…pruning). Additionally, homeostatic principles may be different for a developing brain and allow for more reorganisation [44][45][46]. Since hand representation is already established from birth [47], individuals with congenital hand malformations (either unilateral or bilateral -hereafter, one-handers and no-handers, respectively) provide a unique opportunity to examine the potential of SI for remapping and possibly reorganisation.…”

Developmental Regulation of Homeostatic Plasticity in Mouse Primary Visual Cortex

“…Plasticity of inhibition can play a prominent role in the adult visual cortex (Kameyama et al, 2010; Ribic, 2020). We therefore wondered if neurons in the adult visual cortex might engage inhibitory homeostatic mechanisms in place of intrinsic homeostatic plasticity.…”

Neuroplasticity of the visual cortex: in sickness and in health

“…The transition to adulthood entails a reduction in the plastic potential of the nervous circuits Chen, 2020, 2007;Ribic, 2020). However, growing experimental studies in animal models and humans have shown that rapid physiological plasticity can be enabled in the adult cortex as well (Binda et al, 2018;Lunghi et al, 2015aLunghi et al, , 2015bLunghi et al, , 2013Lunghi et al, , 2011McCoy et al, 2009;Sawtell et al, 2003).…”

“…The effectiveness of MD is more pronounced during the pertaining CP of development, which is of different length depending on the species studied (Berardi et al, 2000;Horton and Hocking, 1997;Issa et al, 1999;Lehmann and Löwel, 2008). It is worth noting, however, that some forms of plasticity persist throughout life and can be boosted by different manipulations in the adult brain Chen, 2020, 2007;Ribic, 2020).…”