Main description:

This volume provides an update on the multitude of technical and experimental approaches in understanding the development and plasticity of the mammalian sensory thalamus and neocortex. The focus is on visual and somatosensory thalamus and neocortex in rodents and carnivores, and functional imaging studies in developing and aging human neocortex. It further provides a synthetic theoretical framework for future studies.

Contents:

Pioneer Neurons and Interneurons in the Developing Subplate: Molecular Markers, Cell Birthdays, and Neurotransmitters.- Dual Roles of Transcription Factors in Forebrain Morphogenesis and Development of Axonal Pathways.- Subcortical and Neocortical Guidance of Area-specific Thalamic Innervation.- The Earliest Thalamocortical Interactions.- Molecular Basis for the Formation of Lamina-Specific Thalamocortical Projection.- Role of Citron K in the Development of Cerebral Cortex.- The Absence of Layer 4 Dramatically Alters Cortical Development in Ferret Somatosensory Cortex.- Influence of Thalamocortical Activity on Sensory Cortical Development and Plasticity.- Pathways to Barrel Development.- Patterning of the Somatosensory Maps with NMDA Receptors.- Presynaptic Mechanisms Controlling Axon Terminal Remodeling in the Thalamocortical and Retinogeniculate Systems.- Cellular Mechanisms Underlying the Remodeling of Retinogeniculate Connections.- A Model for Synaptic Refinement in Visual Thalamus.- Making and Breaking Eye-specific Projections to the Lateral Geniculate Nucleus.- LTD as a Mechanism for Map Plasticity in Rat Barrel Cortex.- High-Field (9.4T) Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Squirrel Monkey.