Functional Development of the Visual System

A fascinating question in neurobiology is how precise patterns of synaptic connections emerge during development. It is known that neuronal activity, both spontaneous and sensory-induced, plays an important role in the formation and maturation of neural circuits. Recent findings have uncovered two new opportunities for studying the neural basis of activity-dependent development in the mammalian visual cortex. By integrating electrophysiology, functional imaging, anatomy, and molecular biology techniques, and by taking advantage of mouse genetics, we take on these opportunities and pursue two lines of closely related research: (1) revealing the cellular and molecular mechanisms that underlie the refinement of cortical retinotopic maps by patterned activity in the developing brain; and (2) determining how early visual experience reorganizes and fine-tunes synaptic connections in the cortex to ensure normal cortical function.

e-mail Dr. Cang
ph: 847.467.0478
fax: 847.491.5211

• Liu X, Robinson ML, Schreiber AM, Wu V, Lavail MM, Cang J, Copenhagen DR. (2009). Regulation of neonatal development of retinal ganglion cell dendrites by neurotrophin-3 overexpression. J Comp Neurol. 514(5):449-58.

• Cang J, Wang L, Stryker MP, Feldheim DA. (2008). Roles of Ephrin-As and Structured Activity in the Development of Functional Maps in the Superior Colliculus. J Neurosci. 28(43):11015-11023.

• Cang J, Niell CM, Liu X, Pfeiffenberger C, Feldheim DA, Stryker MP. (2008). Selective disruption of one Cartesian axis of cortical maps and receptive fields by deficiency in ephrin-As and structured activity. Neuron. 57(4):511-23. [Full Text].

• Lee TT, Levi O, Cang J, Kaneko M, Stryker MP, Smith SJ, Shenoy KV, Harris JS. (2006). Integrated semiconductor optical sensors for chronic, minimally-invasive imaging of brain function. Engineering in Medicine and Biology. 1:1025-8.

• Rentería RC, Tian N, Cang J, Nakanishi S, Stryker MP, Copenhagen DR. Intrinsic ON responses of the retinal OFF pathway are suppressed by the ON pathway. (2006). Journal of Neuroscience. 26(46):11857-69. [Full Text].

• Cang, J., Rentería, R.C., Kaneko, M., Liu, X., Copenhagen, D.R. and Stryker, M.P. (2005). Development of precise maps in visual cortex requires patterned spontaneous activity in the retina. Neuron. 48(5): 797-809. [Full Text].

• Cang, J.*, Kaneko, M.*, Yamada, J., Woods G., Stryker, M.P., and Feldheim, D.A., (2005). Ephrin-As guide the formation of functional maps in the visual cortex. Neuron. 48(4): 577-89; *: co-first authors [Full Text].

• Gandhi, S.P., Cang, J. and Stryker, M.P. (2005). An eye-opening experience. Nature Neuroscience. 8(1):9-10

• Cang, J. and Isaacson, J.S. (2003). In vivo whole-cell recording of odor-evoked synaptic transmission in the rat olfactory bulb. Journal of Neuroscience. 23(10):4108-16

• Cang, J. and Friesen, W.O. (2000). Sensory modification of leech swimming: rhythmic activity of ventral stretch receptors can change intersegmental phase relationships. Journal of Neuroscience. 20:7822-7829

Other Links:

• Cang Lab web site

• Xiaorong Liu Lab web site

• NUIN Page