The cholinergic potentiation of visual conditioning enhances visual acuity and discrimination of the trained stimulus. To determine if this also induces long-term plastic changes on cortical maps and connectivity in the visual cortex and higher associative areas, mesoscopic calcium imaging was performed in head-fixed awake GCaMP6s adult mice before and after conditioning. The conditioned stimulus (0.03 cpd, 30°, 100% contrast, 1 Hz-drifting gratings) was presented 10 min daily for a week. Saline or Donepezil (DPZ, 0.3 mg/kg, s.c.), a cholinesterase inhibitor that potentiates cholinergic transmission, were injected prior to each conditioning session and compared to a sham-conditioned group. Cortical maps of resting state and evoked response to the monocular presentation of conditioned or non-conditioned stimulus (30°, 50 and 75% contrast; 90°, 50, 75, and 100% contrast) were established. Amplitude, duration, and latency of the peak response, as well as size of activation were measured in the primary visual cortex (V1), secondary visual areas (AL, A, AM, PM, LM, RL), retrosplenial cortex (RSC), and higher cortical areas. Visual stimulation increased calcium signaling in all primary and secondary visual areas, the RSC, but no other cortices. There were no significant effects of sham-conditioning or conditioning alone, but DPZ treatment during conditioning significantly decreased the integrated neuronal activity of superficial layers evoked by the conditioned stimulus in V1, AL, PM, and LM. The activity of downstream cortical areas was not changed. The size of the activated area was decreased in V1 and PM, and the signal-to-noise ratio was decreased in AL and PM. Interestingly, signal correlation was seen only between V1, the ventral visual pathway, and the RSC, and was decreased by DPZ administration. The resting state activity was slightly correlated and rarely affected by treatments, except between binocular and monocular V1 in both hemispheres. In conclusion, cholinergic potentiation of visual conditioning induced change in visual processing in the superficial cortical layers. This effect might be a key mechanism in the establishment of the fine cortical tuning in response to the conditioned visual stimulus.

中文翻译：

---

胆碱能系统调节的视觉通路中的刺激选择性反应可塑性的介观映射。

视觉调节的胆碱能增强作用增强了视觉敏锐度和受过训练的刺激的辨别力。为了确定这是否还会引起皮质图上的长期塑性变化以及视觉皮层和更高的缔合区域的连通性，在调理前后，在头部固定的清醒GCaMP6s成年小鼠中进行介观钙成像。每天10分钟提供条件刺激（0.03 cpd，30°，100％对比度，1 Hz漂移光栅）。在每次调理之前，先注射盐水或多奈哌齐（DPZ，0.3 mg / kg，皮下注射），一种可增强胆碱能传递的胆碱酯酶抑制剂，并与假手术组进行比较。皮质的静息状态图和对条件或非条件刺激的单眼表现的诱发反应（30°，50和75％对比度； 90°，50，75和100％的对比度）。在主要视觉皮层（V1），次要视觉区域（AL，A，AM，PM，LM，RL），脾后皮质（RSC）中测量峰值响应的幅度，持续时间和潜伏期以及激活的大小以及更高的皮质区域。视觉刺激增加了所有主要和次要视觉区域（RSC）中的钙信号传导，但没有其他皮质。假手术或单独调理均无明显效果，但调理过程中的DPZ处理可显着降低V1，AL，PM和LM中条件刺激引起的浅层综合神经元活性。下游皮层区域的活动没有改变。在V1和PM中，激活区域的大小减小，而在AL和PM中，信噪比减小。有趣的是 信号相关性仅在V1，腹侧视觉通路和RSC之间可见，并通过DPZ给药而降低。除了两个半球的双眼和单眼V1之间，静息状态的活动都略有相关，很少受到治疗的影响。总之，视觉调节的胆碱能增强诱导浅表皮层视觉处理的变化。该效应可能是响应条件性视觉刺激建立精细皮层微调的关键机制。视觉调节的胆碱能增强诱导浅表皮层视觉处理的改变。该效应可能是响应条件性视觉刺激建立精细皮层微调的关键机制。视觉调节的胆碱能增强诱导浅表皮层视觉处理的改变。该效应可能是响应条件性视觉刺激建立精细皮层微调的关键机制。