Deprivation of visual input from one eye (Monocular Deprivation or MD) or both eyes (Dark Rearing or DR) are established paradigms for studying experience-dependent cortical plasticity. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non coding RNAs that have been shown to be abundantly expressed in mammalian cerebral cortex and involved in neuronal development and plasticity. Using a plethora of different techniques including miRNA microarray, qRT-PCR and LNA in situ hybridization, we identified miRNAs whose expression is altered following DR and/or MD in mouse primary visual cortex and examined their laminar and cellular expression patterns. Among the experience-dependent miRNAs were members of the same family of miRNAs, a subset of which has already been shown to be influenced by neuronal activity. In silico analysis revealed that the predicted targets of DR/MD altered miRNAs constitute important pathways previously linked to visual cortex plasticity. We are currently using lentivirus- mediated miRNA overexpression and inhibition approaches to manipulate in-vivo the expression of selected MD/DR altered miRNAs, in order to examine their role in experience-dependent plasticity in mouse visual cortex.

Society for Neuroscience Abstract, 2010.