Cell type specific impact of cannabinoid receptor signaling in somatosensory barrel map formation in mice

Endocannabinoids and their receptors are highly abundant in the developing cerebral cortex and play major roles in early developmental processes, for example, neuronal proliferation, migration, and axonal guidance as well as postnatal plasticity. To investigate the role of the cannabinoid type 1 receptor (CB1) in the formation of sensory maps in the cerebral cortex, the topographic representation of the whiskers in the primary somatosensory cortex (barrel field) of adult mice with different cell type specific genetic deletion of CB1 was studied. A constitutive absence of CB1 (CB1-KO) significantly decreased the total area of the somatosensory cortical map, affecting barrel, and septal areas…