Michael P. Stryker: 2011 Allen Institute for Brain Science Symposium

Michael P. Stryker, University of California, San Francisco "Rewiring the cortex"

First Dr. Stryker offered a look at the validity of the mouse visual cortex as a model for human visual cortex. Although mice and other rodents lack orientation and ocular dominance columns seen in primates, the mouse visual system has the same basic structure and cell types. He suggested that the responses of neurons and the patterns of connections to individual neurons, not the larger scale organization of ocular columns themselves, are important in his line of questioning. Armed with this information, Dr. Stryker then provided direct evidence that running is good for the brain. He first explored how action affects perception and plasticity, reporting the same cell responses in either anesthetized or quietly resting animals but a much greater response in animals that were running on a stationary platform. He then showed that after monocular deprivation, binocular vision and depth perception were restored much faster if the subject has been running. The next step in a more complete understanding of this phenomenon, he proposed, is to actually measure the plasticity effect by identifying and quantifying postsynaptic changes during monocular deprivation and recovery. In the meantime, keep running.