LAUSR

Significance During early development of the mammalian cortex, subplate neurons guide neuronal circuit formation. Most of them undergo cell death shortly after birth, while some survive and build new neural circuits. However, the function of the surviving subplate neurons remains largely unknown. This study found that surviving subplate neurons showed clear responses to visual stimuli with broad tunings in the primary visual cortex of juvenile mice. Furthermore, subplate neurons exhibited visual experience-dependent functional plasticity during critical periods, when visual inputs can effectively modify cortical function. These results suggest that surviving subplate neurons are involved in the experience-dependent maturation of cortical functions and information processing in the mature cortex.