Visual deprivation induce cross-modal enhancement of olfactory perception

The underlying mechanisms responsible for enhanced olfactory perception of congenital blind humans remain elusive so far. Here, animal behavioral test showed that congenital visual deprivation (from postnatal day 0-28) or one-week visual deprivation during juvenile stage (from postnatal day 21-28) could reduce the latency time of food-seeking but increase the odor discrimination performance of rodents. The enhanced olfactory perception induced by one-week visual deprivation could be returned to base level when visual input was recovered. Accordingly, local field potential (LFP) oscillation recording in vivo showed that the power of high-frequency β and γ oscillations were increased in olfactory bulb (OB) and anterior piriform cortex (aPC) of vision deprived animals. This research discovered the enhancement of olfactory perception and adaptive plasticity of oscillations in olfactory system of rodents induced by visual deprivation, which may facilitate better understanding of mechanisms underlying cross-modal plasticity.