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Brain plasticity after vision loss has an 'on-off switch'

KU Leuven biologists have discovered a molecular on-off switch that controls how a mouse brain responds to vision loss.

When the switch is on, the loss of sight in one eye will be compensated by the other eye, but also by tactile input from the whiskers. When the switch is off, only the other eye will take over. These findings may help improve patient susceptibility to sensory prosthetics such as cochlear implants or bionic eyes.