Early Life Stress Accelerates Critical Periods and Causes Precocious Visual Cortex Development

Abstract The developing nervous system displays remarkable plasticity in response to sensory stimulation during critical periods of development. Critical periods may also increase the brain’s vulnerability to adverse experiences. Here we show that early-life stress in mice shifts the timing of critical period of the visual cortex. Early-life stress accelerated the opening and closing of the visual cortex critical period along with precocious development of visual acuity. Premature emergence of inhibitory perineuronal nets was accompanied by activated energy metabolism and protein biosynthesis and expression of genes linked to psychiatric disease risk, with hemispheric asymmetries favoring the right side. Thus, early-life stress desynchronizes the orchestrated temporal sequence of regional brain development leading to permanent functional deficiencies. These findings provide new insights into the dichotomy between adaptive brain plasticity versus neurodevelopmental risk factors.