Prior strabismus protects kitten cortical neurons from the effects of monocular deprivation.

The effects of 8 days of monocular eyelid suture beginning at 45 days of age were compared in normal kittens and in kittens which had been made strabismic by surgery early in life. In both groups of animals, monocular deprivation increased the relative strength of inputs from the non-deprived eye at the cortical level, but this effect was clearly less pronounced in the strabismic animals. The reduced effect of monocular deprivation in strabismic animals was observed mainly in the cortical hemisphere contralateral to the deprived eye.