Early visual experience elicits cellular and functional plasticity in the retina and alters behavior
6 affiliations
- 1Centre for Developmental Neurobiology, King's College London, London, UK; MRC Centre for Neurodevelopmental Disorders, King's College London, London, UK; MRC-DTP Program, King's College London, London, UK
- 2Centre for Developmental Neurobiology, King's College London, London, UK; MRC Centre for Neurodevelopmental Disorders, King's College London, London, UK
- 3Centre for Developmental Neurobiology, King's College London, London, UK
- 4Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany; Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany; International Max Planck Research School for Quantitative Behavior, Ecology and Evolution from lab to field, Konstanz, Germany
- 5Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany; Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany; Zukunftskolleg Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany
- 6Centre for Developmental Neurobiology, King's College London, London, UK; MRC Centre for Neurodevelopmental Disorders, King's College London, London, UK. Electronic address: [email protected]
Abstract
Our interaction with the surrounding environment shapes how our brain processes sensory information and drives adaptive behaviour. This plasticity allows the brain to rewire in response to specific sensory experiences. For instance, early manipulation of visual inputs profoundly impacts brain plasticity, which is crucial for functions like size perception, object recognition, and visuospatial processing. While neuronal plasticity has been detected in visual target structures such as the colliculus, thalamus, and cortex, it remains unclear if the retina, the primary sensory organ, undergoes significant plasticity. Here, we show that the zebrafish retina demonstrates pronounced plastic transformations in response to alterations of the visual environment during development, which ultimately modifies the detection of oriented visual stimuli. We demonstrate that orientation-selective amacrine cells undergo profound morphological changes in animals exposed to distinct visual environments during development. We further find that the functional orientation-selective output from the retina is altered in a manner consistent with the visual environment in which the animals are raised and that these changes are persistent. Finally, animals tested in a virtual reality system show that early exposure to different visual environments changes their innate preference for specifically oriented patterns. Our findings unveil a unique developmental form of sensory organ plasticity with continuing structural and functional consequences.
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BibTeX
@article{reynolds2026early,
title = {{Early visual experience elicits cellular and functional plasticity in the retina and alters behavior}},
author = {Phoebe Reynolds and Davide Marchi and Yan To Ling and Katja Slangewal and Maxim Q. Capelle and Zhaklin Chalakova and Armin Bahl and Robert Hindges},
journal = {Neuron},
year = {2026},
month = jun,
doi = {10.1016/j.neuron.2026.05.001},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2026.05.001},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Early visual experience elicits cellular and functional plasticity in the retina and alters behavior
AU - Phoebe Reynolds
AU - Davide Marchi
AU - Yan To Ling
AU - Katja Slangewal
AU - Maxim Q. Capelle
AU - Zhaklin Chalakova
AU - Armin Bahl
AU - Robert Hindges
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/06/23
JO - Neuron
DO - 10.1016/j.neuron.2026.05.001
UR - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2026.05.001
AB - Our interaction with the surrounding environment shapes how our brain processes sensory information and drives adaptive behaviour. This plasticity allows the brain to rewire in response to specific sensory experiences. For instance, early manipulation of visual inputs profoundly impacts brain plasticity, which is crucial for functions like size perception, object recognition, and visuospatial processing. While neuronal plasticity has been detected in visual target structures such as the colliculus, thalamus, and cortex, it remains unclear if the retina, the primary sensory organ, undergoes significant plasticity. Here, we show that the zebrafish retina demonstrates pronounced plastic transformations in response to alterations of the visual environment during development, which ultimately modifies the detection of oriented visual stimuli. We demonstrate that orientation-selective amacrine cells undergo profound morphological changes in animals exposed to distinct visual environments during development. We further find that the functional orientation-selective output from the retina is altered in a manner consistent with the visual environment in which the animals are raised and that these changes are persistent. Finally, animals tested in a virtual reality system show that early exposure to different visual environments changes their innate preference for specifically oriented patterns. Our findings unveil a unique developmental form of sensory organ plasticity with continuing structural and functional consequences.
SN - 0896-6273
SN - 1097-4199
ER -