Journal
FRONTIERS IN NEURAL CIRCUITS
Volume 15, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
FRONTIERS MEDIA SA
DOI: 10.3389/fncir.2021.665009
Keywords
cross-modal plasticity; cortical plasticity; cortical circuits; subcortical circuits; sensory loss; multi-sensory interaction; metaplasticity; functional connectivity
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Funding
- National Institutes of Health (NIH) [R01-EY014882, NRSA F31-EY031946]
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Cross-modal plasticity refers to the brain's ability to adapt across different sensory modalities in response to the loss of a sensory function. It mainly involves two changes: cross-modal recruitment and compensatory plasticity, where the deprived sensory area is recruited for processing remaining senses, and remaining sensory areas enhance their own processing capabilities, respectively.
Cortical areas are highly interconnected both via cortical and subcortical pathways, and primary sensory cortices are not isolated from this general structure. In primary sensory cortical areas, these pre-existing functional connections serve to provide contextual information for sensory processing and can mediate adaptation when a sensory modality is lost. Cross-modal plasticity in broad terms refers to widespread plasticity across the brain in response to losing a sensory modality, and largely involves two distinct changes: cross-modal recruitment and compensatory plasticity. The former involves recruitment of the deprived sensory area, which includes the deprived primary sensory cortex, for processing the remaining senses. Compensatory plasticity refers to plasticity in the remaining sensory areas, including the spared primary sensory cortices, to enhance the processing of its own sensory inputs. Here, we will summarize potential cellular plasticity mechanisms involved in cross-modal recruitment and compensatory plasticity, and review cortical and subcortical circuits to the primary sensory cortices which can mediate cross-modal plasticity upon loss of vision.
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