Brain Advance Access published online on November 5, 2009
Brain, doi:10.1093/brain/awp279
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Imaging studies in congenital anophthalmia reveal preservation of brain architecture in ‘visual’ cortex
1 Department of Clinical Neurology, University of Oxford, FMRIB Centre, John Radcliffe Hospital Headington, Oxford, UK 2 Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK 3 Department of Anatomy, Physiology & Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
Correspondence to:
Holly Bridge, Department of Clinical Neurology, University of Oxford, FMRIB Centre, John Radcliffe Hospital Headington, Oxford OX3 9DU, UK E-mail: holly.bridge{at}clneuro.ox.ac.uk
The functional specialization of the human brain means that many regions are dedicated to processing a single sensory modality. When a modality is absent, as in congenital total blindness, ‘visual’ regions can be reliably activated by non-visual stimuli. The connections underlying this functional adaptation, however, remain elusive. In this study, using structural and diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging, we investigated the structural differences in the brains of six bilaterally anophthalmic subjects compared with sighted subjects. Surprisingly, the gross structural differences in the brains were small, even in the occipital lobe where only a small region of the primary visual cortex showed a bilateral reduction in grey matter volume in the anophthalmic subjects compared with controls. Regions of increased cortical thickness were apparent on the banks of the Calcarine sulcus, but not in the fundus. Subcortically, the white matter volume around the optic tract and internal capsule in anophthalmic subjects showed a large decrease, yet the optic radiation volume did not differ significantly. However, the white matter integrity, as measured with fractional anisotropy showed an extensive reduction throughout the brain in the anophthalmic subjects, with the greatest difference in the optic radiations. In apparent contradiction to the latter finding, the connectivity between the lateral geniculate nucleus and primary visual cortex measured with diffusion tractography did not differ between the two populations. However, these findings can be reconciled by a demonstration that at least some of the reduction in fractional anisotropy in the optic radiation is due to an increase in the strength of fibres crossing the radiations. In summary, the major changes in the ‘visual’ brain in anophthalmic subjects may be subcortical, although the evidence of decreased fractional anisotropy and increased crossing fibres could indicate considerable re-organization.
Key Words: congenital blindness; visual cortex; structural imaging; brain plasticity; diffusion tensor imaging
Abbreviations: FA, fractional anisotropy; LGN, lateral geniculate nucleus; VBM, voxel-based morphometry
Received April 16, 2009. Revised August 3, 2009. Accepted September 26, 2009.