Abstract
The expression of immediate early genes (IEGs) in visual cortex can be triggered by visual input and is associated with certain forms of neuronal plasticity. How IEG expression in cortical neurons relates to neuronal activity or experience-dependent changes of neuronal activity, however, is still unclear. Using three transgenic mouse lines that express GFP under the control of different IEG promoters (c-fos, egr1 or Arc), we recorded both neuronal activity and IEG expression levels in primary visual cortex before and after a mouse’s first visual exposure, and subsequent visuomotor learning. We found that expression levels of all three IEGs correlated positively with neuronal activity, and that different IEGs are preferentially expressed in different functional cell types. Neurons with strong motor-related activity preferentially expressed EGR1 while neurons that developed strong visually driven activity preferentially expressed Arc. Our findings suggest that during functional development of visual cortex different IEGs are preferentially expressed in neurons that receive different functional types of input.
Competing Interest Statement
The authors have declared no competing interest.
