Abstrakt
Sensory deprivation in one modality can enhance the development of the remaining modalities via mech-anisms of synaptic plasticity. Mice of the C3H strain suffer from RD1 retinal degeneration that leads tovisual impairment at weaning age.
We examined a role of whiskers in compensation of the visual deficit.In order to differentiate the contribution of the whiskers from other mechanisms that can take part in thecompensation, we investigated the effect of both chronic and acute tactile deprivation. Three-month-oldmice were used.
We examined motor skills (rotarod, beam walking test), gait control (CatWalk system),spontaneous motor activity (open field) and CNS excitability to an acoustic stimulus for assessment ofcompensatory changes in auditory system (audiogenic epilepsy). In the sighted mice, the only effect was adecline in their rotarod test performance after acute whisker removal.
In the blind animals, chronic tactiledeprivation caused changes in their gait and impaired the performance in motor tests. Some other com-pensatory mechanisms were involved but the whiskers are essential for the compensation as it emergedfrom more marked change of gait and the worsening of the motor performance after the acute whiskerremoval.
Both chronic and acute tactile deprivation induced anxiety-like behaviour. Only a combinationof blindness and chronic tactile deprivation led to an increased sense of hearing.