Monocular deprivation with concurrent sagittal transection of the optic chiasm.

We have used monocular deprivation combined with sagittal transection of the optic chiasm (MD-OX) in an attempt to separate the contributions of competitive binocular interactions from those of deprivation per se. Cell body measurements were made in the intact A1 laminae of cats reared with MD-OX. These measurements were compared to matched measurements in normally-reared cats. Cells in the deprived A1 lamina of the MD-OX cats were smaller than normal to a degree consistent with other reports involving BD and MD-E. Also consistent with the absence of competitive imbalances, cells in the non-deprived A1 lamina of these cats were normal in size, exhibiting no sign of hypertrophy.