The monoclonal antibody Cat-301, generated against cat spinal cord (McKay and Hockfield, 1982), recognizes a surface-associated antigen that, in the cat lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN), is selectively expressed on Y-cells (Hockfield et al., 1983; Hendry et al., 1984; Sur et al., 1984). We now report that the antigen recognized by Cat-301 appears late in development, along a time course similar to that described for the maturation of the physiological properties of Y-cells in the LGN, and that its expression is sharply reduced by monocular lid suture or dark-rearing from birth, 2 visual deprivation procedures that lead to a reduction in the proportion of Y-cells recorded physiologically in the LGN (Sherman et al., 1972; Kratz et al., 1979; reviewed in Sherman and Spear, 1982). Monocular lid suture in the adult has no effect on Cat-301 antigen levels or, as previously reported (Sherman et al., 1972), on the proportion of physiologically recorded Y-cells. In addition, reversing the monocular deprivation in adulthood by opening the neonatally sutured eye and suturing closed the previously normal eye for 6 months restores neither normal levels of Cat-301 labeling nor, as previously reported (Geisert et al., 1982), the proportion of recordable Y-cells. The development of Cat-301 immunoreactivity thus parallels the development of LGN Y-cell physiology. The relative reduction in levels of immunoreactivity consequent to neonatal, but not adult, visual deprivation shows that Cat-301 antigen expression does not simply reflect the level of visually evoked electrical activity in the LGN, but rather reflects a process that depends on the nature of visual experience early in life.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)