Correlation of activation sizes between lateral geniculate nucleus and primary visual cortex in humans

Abstract

It is well established that the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) and the primary visual cortex (V1) are retinotopically organized. This similarity is expected to reflect a correlation of activation sizes between V1 and LGN during visual stimulation. However, it is a challenge to determine this functional correlation experimentally in the human brain using most neuroimaging techniques due to their low sensitivity for detecting small LGN activation in the thalamus. The purpose of this study was to examine the functional correlation of activation sizes between LGN and V1 during fullfield and hemifield visual stimulation using a large visual field and high‐resolution fMRI technique at 4 Tesla. The correlation was determined by comparing the V1 and LGN activation size ratios between the left and right hemispheres of the same subjects. The results reveal 1) a linear correlation of functional activation size ratio between LGN and V1 with a correlation coefficient of 0.96, and 2) the capability of fMRI for quantifying spatial correlation between cortical and subcortical activation. Magn Reson Med 45:202–205, 2001. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.

Volume and neuron number of the lateral geniculate nucleus in schizophrenia and mood disorders

“…Interestingly, we observed a strong and significant correlation between the LGN and BA17 volume estimates for the six subjects in the schizophrenia group. This observation agrees with previous findings in normal subjects [6]—see also [22]. With corresponding LGN and BA17 data from only two comparison subjects we are not able to determine if the LGN-BA17 regression line of the subjects with schizophrenia is shifted, has a different slope or both compared to the relation in comparison subjects.…”

Functional mapping of the magnocellular and parvocellular subdivisions of human LGN

“…Previous studies have noninvasively measured activity in the human LGN using fMRI (Anderson et al, 2009; Chen and Zhu, 2001; Chen et al, 1999; D'Souza et al, 2011; Haynes et al, 2005; Kastner et al, 2004; Mullen et al, 2008; Mullen et al, 2010; O'Connor et al, 2002; Parkes et al, 2004; Schneider, 2011; Schneider and Kastner, 2009; Schneider et al, 2004; Uğurbil et al, 1999; Wunderlich et al, 2005), and there has been one attempt to localize the M and P subdivisions using fMRI (Schneider et al, 2004). In that study, stimulus contrast was manipulated (either 10% or 100% contrast-reversing checkerboard stimuli) to attempt to dissociate the M and P subdivisions.…”

Effects of Voxel Size on Detection of Lateral Geniculate Nucleus Activation in Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging

“…[3][4][5][6][7][8][9] In recent reports, activation of the LGN has been demonstrated using a conventional MR scanner at 1.5 T, which is widely available. [10][11][12] In our report, statistically significant activation of the LGN was observed in most of the volunteers, but not in all of them.…”