Early visual experience redistributes cFos-tagged neurons toward the cortex while preserving presynaptic spatial stereotypy

The macroscale functional organization of the brain is spatially stereotyped across individuals, but whether this extends to finer spatial scales is not known. Furthermore, how experience shapes this organization across the brain remains unclear. To address this, we developed cFos promoter-driven reporter mouse lines that permanently label either the cell bodies or presynaptic terminals of neurons during defined temporal windows. Using serial two-photon tomography and voxel-wise statistics, we mapped brain-wide distributions of cFos-tagged somata or their presynaptic terminals during the first week of visual experience or its deprivation. We found that midbrain and subcortical regions show greater stereotypy for cFos-tagged neurons and their presynaptic terminals compared to cortical regions. This fine-scale spatial stereotypy remained largely preserved despite visual deprivation, which shifted the relative recruitment of cFos-tagged neurons from cortical toward the highly stereotyped midbrain and subcortical regions. Our findings identify heterogeneous, spatially constrained functional organization across the brain that is conserved across subjects yet accommodates experience-dependent reorganization of neuronal recruitment.