Visual Adaptation in Mouse Primary Visual Cortex

Abstract

Studying vision in mice is a relatively recent endeavor, with most research dating within the last 10 years. One goal of this research is to examine similarities and differences between the mouse visual system and more traditional animal models. This thesis contains two such studies, with the results from each suggesting that the mouse is a legitimate model for visual studies. The first study examines orientation adaptation and demonstrates that after orientation adaptation mouse orientation tuning curves shift similarly to what is observed in cats and primates. The second study looks at contrast adaptation, and provides evidence that it not spike rate dependent but rather pattern-specific. Combined, these studies suggest that mouse primary visual cortex adjusts to its visual surroundings comparably to traditional animal models, and also provide more of a foundation for future experiments utilizing genetic tools that are only available in mice.