

Sign up
Here's how it works:
  1. Anybody can ask a question
  2. Anybody can answer


Specifically, they describe studies in which:

  2. the rodents were allowed to mature;


Something of which these publications seem to make no mention is the behavior that developed in the test subjects. For example, did they appear to be completely blind from a behavioral standpoint?

Is anyone aware of any publication, relating to these studies or other, similar experiments, which addresses this question?

share|improve this question
@mac01021 - Thanks for accepting my answer, despite the fact you more or less answered your own question earlier. I did find an additional publication though :) Very nice question. I +1'd it earlier. – Christiaan Sep 27 '15 at 12:03
up vote 2 down vote accepted

At least two follow-up studies have investigated the behavioral consequences of the re-routing of the optic nerve to the auditory cortex. In these animals the visual cortices were ablated, and the optic nerve re-routed by combined lesions of the superior colliculus and ascending auditory pathways to the thalamus. These lesions induce retinal axons to form permanent ectopic (i.e., re-routed) projections to the auditory thalamus and cortex. These ectopic visual projections result in the formation of retinotopic maps in the auditory cortex and in visually responsive neurons with receptive field properties reminiscent of cells in the visual cortex.

These re-wired ferrets and hamsters were shown to have functional vision, as shown by their ability to tell light from dark and to recognize simple visual patterns. Visual pattern recognition was absent in control animals that were blinded, but not re-wired. Visual function, as measured by grating visual acuity in re-wired hamsters and rats, was however not as good as in control animals with normal vision (Frost et al., 2000; Melchner et al., 2000).

- Frost et al., PNAS (2000); 97(20): 11068–73
- Melchner et al., Nature (2000); 404: 971-6

share|improve this answer

Your Answer


