Sensory experience regulates the structural and functional wiring of sensory cortices. In previous work, we showed that whisker deprivation (WD) from birth not only reduced excitatory synaptic transmission of layer (L) 2/3 pyramidal neurons of the correspondent barrel cortex in mice, but also cross-modally reduced synaptic transmission of L2/3 pyramidal neurons in other sensory cortices. Here, we used in utero electroporation, in combination with optical clearing, to examine the main morphological components regulating neural circuit wiring, namely presynaptic bouton density, spine density, as well as dendrite and axon arbor lengths. We found that WD from P0 to P14 reduced presynaptic bouton density in both L4 and L2/3 inputs to L2/3 pyramidal neurons, as well as spine density across the dendritic tree of L2/3 pyramidal neurons, in the barrel field of the primary somatosensory cortex. The cross-modal effects in the primary auditory cortex were manifested mostly as reduced dendrite and axon arbor size, as well as reduced bouton density of L2/3 inputs. Increasing sensory experience by rearing mice in an enriched environment rescued the effects of WD. Together, these results demonstrate that multiple morphological factors contribute to experience-dependent structural plasticity during early wiring of the sensory cortices.

中文翻译：

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多种形态学因素是发育中感觉皮层中依赖于经验的跨模态可塑性的基础。

感官体验调节感觉皮层的结构和功能布线。在之前的工作中，我们发现从出生开始的晶须剥夺 (WD) 不仅减少了小鼠对应桶状皮层 (L) 2/3 层锥体神经元的兴奋性突触传递，而且还跨模式减少了 L2/3 的突触传递其他感觉皮层中的锥体神经元。在这里，我们在子宫内使用电穿孔，结合光学清除，检查调节神经回路布线的主要形态成分，即突触前布顿密度、脊柱密度以及树突和轴突轴长。我们发现从 P0 到 P14 的 WD 降低了 L4 和 L2/3 锥体神经元的 L4 和 L2/3 输入中的突触前 bouton 密度，以及 L2/3 锥体神经元树突树的脊柱密度，在初级体感皮层的桶状区域。初级听觉皮层的跨模态效应主要表现为树突和轴突尺寸的减少，以及 L2/3 输入的布顿密度降低。通过在丰富的环境中饲养小鼠来增加感官体验，从而挽救了 WD 的影响。总之，这些结果表明，在感觉皮层的早期布线过程中，多种形态因素有助于依赖于经验的结构可塑性。