Fig. 1
Schematic overview of the different cortical plasticity phases occurring in the adult ME-mouse model and illustration of the experimental setup. a Timeline indicating the early unimodal plasticity phase (week 1–3 post-ME) and the subsequent cross-modal plasticity phase (week 4–7 post-ME). b Overview of the ISH zif268-based reactivation pattern of the uni-and cross-modal plasticity phase in adult mice upon ME. Whisker deprivation and 5-HTR antagonism specifically suppress reactivation of the Mmz. c Illustration of the anatomical delineation of the visual cortex regions on a Nissl-stained coronal section which are then overlaid on the matching ISH zif268 section. The delineated visual cortical areas are indicated between large arrowheads: V2L, V1, V2M and RM with the distinction between monocular (m) and binocular (b) segments. The binocular zone (Bz) comprises V2Lb-V1b while the medial monocular zone (Mmz) includes V1m-V2M. The different cortical layers are indicated with Roman numbers: I-VI. d All animals had normal vision up to the age of P120 or in case of the non-deprived age-matched control mice (AMC), up to P169 (white bars). Mice that underwent monocular enucleation (ME, light gray bars) at P120 recovered under standard housing conditions during 1 week (1wME, n = 5; representing ongoing open-eye potentiation), 3 weeks (3wME, n = 5, representing the end of the open-eye potentiation phase), 5 weeks (5wME, n = 5; representing ongoing cross-modal plasticity phase) or 7 weeks (7wME, n = 11; representing the end of the cross-modal plasticity phase). All drug-treated ME mice recovered for 7 weeks and received daily intraperitoneal (i.p.) injections of either saline (n = 6), 5-HTR1A antagonist (WAY-100635, n = 3), 5-HTR2A antagonist (ketanserin, n = 3) or 5-HTR3A antagonist (ondansetron, n = 3) during the last 3 weeks of the 7 weeks post-ME period (dark gray bar, representing the time window of whisker-driven cross-modal plasticity). The number of animals (n) is represented in the bars