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Construction of Modular Circuits in the Mammalian Brain

1990; Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press; Volume: 55; Linguagem: Inglês

10.1101/sqb.1990.055.01.044

1943-4456

Dale Purves, Anthony‐Samuel LaMantia,

Neurobiology and Insect Physiology Research

Neurobiologists have long appreciated that many regions of the mammalian brain are organized into repeating units or modules (Golgi 1874; Lorente de Nó 1949; Hubel et al. 1977; Mountcastle 1978; Szentagothai 1978; Goldman-Rakic 1984; Hubel 1988). The first example of this principle was recognized more than a century ago when C. Golgi (1874) described glomeruli in the olfactory bulb. More recently, various classes of columns and patches have been discovered in the cerebral cortex, the most thoroughly studied of which are orientation columns, ocular dominance columns, and blobs in the primary visual cortex of primates (Hubel 1988). The development of these units, however, is not fully understood. For instance, a simple question that remains unanswered is whether the number of modular circuits increases, decreases, or remains stable during postnatal life. This question bears on issues as diverse as the explanation of critical periods, the response of the nervous system to...