• The Korean Journal of Zoology
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.133-140
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• 1990

In monocular vision, bead and eye optokinetic nystagmus (OKN) display directionnal asymmetry, in lower vertebrates such as chickens, T-N stimulation being more efficient in evoking this visuomotor reflex than N-T stimulation. The N-T component of monocular OKN is significantly weaker in chickens. Coil recordings and observation showed that in adult chickens, prolonged monocular visual deprivation by unilateral eyelid suture provoked significant and progressive increase of the N-T component in chickens. This plasticity phenomenon involved the eye and head OKN in chickens. The administration of THIP, a GABA agonist, abolished reversibly the increase of the N-T component in chickens. This fact suggests that the GABAergic system could be involved in determining this plasticity phenomenon observed in adult lower vertebrates.