Following the Status of Visual Cortex Over Time in Patients With Macular Degeneration Reveals Atrophy of Visually Deprived Brain Regions

Hanson, Rachel L W; Gale, Richard; Gouws, André; Airody, Archana; Scott, Martin; Akthar, Farah; Waterson, Sophie; Wells, Mason; Wright, Aaron; Bell, Kerry; Silson, Edward; Baseler, Heidi A.; Morland, Antony B.

doi:10.1167/iovs.18-25823

Cited by 19 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…However, we can draw on changes to the posterior visual pathway that have been documented in other visual deficits to provide some context ( Prins et al, 2016 ). Previous research has reported significant structural changes in visual processing pathways in the brain both in individuals with congenital blindness ( Ptito et al, 2008 ; Jiang et al, 2009 ; Park et al, 2009 ; Aguirre et al, 2016 ; Bridge and Watkins, 2019 ) and acquired defects ( Boucard et al, 2009 ; Hernowo et al, 2014 ; Brown et al, 2016 ; Prins et al, 2016 ; Hanson et al, 2019 ). Functional changes have been identified in another ophthalmological disorder, i.e., amblyopia, in higher visual areas including V4 and MT+ ( Wong, 2012 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Structural Differences Across Multiple Visual Cortical Regions in the Absence of Cone Function in Congenital Achromatopsia

et al. 2021

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Most individuals with congenital achromatopsia (ACHM) carry mutations that affect the retinal phototransduction pathway of cone photoreceptors, fundamental to both high acuity vision and colour perception. As the central fovea is occupied solely by cones, achromats have an absence of retinal input to the visual cortex and a small central area of blindness. Additionally, those with complete ACHM have no colour perception, and colour processing regions of the ventral cortex also lack typical chromatic signals from the cones. This study examined the cortical morphology (grey matter volume, cortical thickness, and cortical surface area) of multiple visual cortical regions in ACHM (n = 15) compared to normally sighted controls (n = 42) to determine the cortical changes that are associated with the retinal characteristics of ACHM. Surface-based morphometry was applied to T1-weighted MRI in atlas-defined early, ventral and dorsal visual regions of interest. Reduced grey matter volume in V1, V2, V3, and V4 was found in ACHM compared to controls, driven by a reduction in cortical surface area as there was no significant reduction in cortical thickness. Cortical surface area (but not thickness) was reduced in a wide range of areas (V1, V2, V3, TO1, V4, and LO1). Reduction in early visual areas with large foveal representations (V1, V2, and V3) suggests that the lack of foveal input to the visual cortex was a major driving factor in morphological changes in ACHM. However, the significant reduction in ventral area V4 coupled with the lack of difference in dorsal areas V3a and V3b suggest that deprivation of chromatic signals to visual cortex in ACHM may also contribute to changes in cortical morphology. This research shows that the congenital lack of cone input to the visual cortex can lead to widespread structural changes across multiple visual areas.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Structural Differences Across Multiple Visual Cortical Regions in the Absence of Cone Function in Congenital Achromatopsia

et al. 2021

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“…Moreover, one study detected significant cortical atrophy in patients with AMD at long-term follow-up, with a decline in mean cortical volume across the whole occipital lobe. And what’s significant is this decline could be explained by cortical thinning of the lesion projection zone [ 40 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Decreased gray matter volume and increased white matter volume in patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration: a voxel-based morphometry study

Shen

Pan

et al. 2021

Aging

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Objective: To measure white and gray matter volume (WMV, GMV) in patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD) using voxel-based morphometry (VBM). Material: Eighteen patients (9 men, 9 women) with nAMD and 18 (9 men, 9 women) healthy controls (HCs) aligned were recruited. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and VBM of three-dimensional T1 brain images were analyzed. And we also apply t-tests to look for GMV and WMV differences between groups. Correlation analysis was utilized to probe the connection between observational GMV and WMV values of diverse brain areas and the severity of HADS (hospital anxiety and depression scale). Also, distinctions between nAMD and HCs in GMV can be presented with the help of a ROC (receiver operating characteristic) curve. Results: Compared with HCs, GMV values were significantly lower in patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration in the right inferior frontal gyrus, temporal pole of left superior temporal gyrus, left superior temporal gyrus, left middle frontal gyrus, left anterior cingulate and para cingulate gyrus. While WMV was slightly increased in these areas. HADS (hospital anxiety and depression scale) scores portrayed a non-linear correlation with the GMV value of the right inferior frontal gyrus, left middle frontal gyrus, left anterior cingulate and paracingulate gyrus of the nAMD group (r=-0.6629, P=0.0027)(r=-0.9451, P<0.0001)(r=-0.6183, P=0.0062). Moreover, the ROC curve analysis of the mean VBM values for altered brain regions indicated high diagnostic accuracy. Conclusion: These results indicated that patients with nAMD have abnormal GMV and WMV and formed a basis for future research on pathological mechanisms in this disease. Moreover, decreased gray matter volume in particular brain regions might be associated with choroidal neovascularization and abnormal HADS score. It might help to explain the pathological mechanism of anxiety and depression in patients with nAMD.

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“…We propose that this retinal ganglion cell loss is likely to cause the decreases in visual field map surface areas, and (indirectly) the increases in pRF size, that we observe. For changes in visual field map surface areas, degradation of ascending retinal ganglion cell projections (in macular degeneration) causes a decrease in the gray matter volume in the affected cortical projection zone (Hanson et al 2019 ). Although V2 and V3 do not receive direct ascending projections, V2 is physically linked to V1 and V2 size is correlated with V1 size (Dougherty et al 2003 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Simultaneous changes in visual acuity, cortical population receptive field size, visual field map size, and retinal thickness in healthy human aging

et al. 2021

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Healthy human aging is associated with a deterioration of visual acuity, retinal thinning, visual field map shrinkage and increasing population receptive field sizes. Here we ask how these changes are related to each other in a cross-sectional sample of fifty healthy adults aged 20–80 years. We hypothesized that age-related loss of macular retinal ganglion cells may lead to decreased visual field map sizes, and both may lead to increased pRF sizes in the cortical central visual field representation. We measured our participants’ perceptual corrected visual acuity using standard ophthalmological letter charts. We then measured their early visual field map (V1, V2 and V3) functional population receptive field (pRF) sizes and structural surface areas using fMRI, and their retinal structure using high-definition optical coherence tomography. With increasing age visual acuity decreased, pRF sizes increased, visual field maps surface areas (but not whole-brain surface areas) decreased, and retinal thickness decreased. Among these measures, only functional pRF sizes predicted perceptual visual acuity, and Bayesian statistics support a null relationship between visual acuity and cortical or retinal structure. However, pRF sizes were in turn predicted by cortical structure only (visual field map surface areas), which were only predicted by retinal structure (thickness). These results suggest that simultaneous disruptions of neural structure and function throughout the early visual system may underlie the deterioration of perceptual visual acuity in healthy aging.

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Following the Status of Visual Cortex Over Time in Patients With Macular Degeneration Reveals Atrophy of Visually Deprived Brain Regions

Abstract: Following the status of visual cortex over time in patients with macular degeneration reveals atrophy of visually deprived brain regions.

Cited by 19 publications

References 46 publications

Structural Differences Across Multiple Visual Cortical Regions in the Absence of Cone Function in Congenital Achromatopsia

Structural Differences Across Multiple Visual Cortical Regions in the Absence of Cone Function in Congenital Achromatopsia

Decreased gray matter volume and increased white matter volume in patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration: a voxel-based morphometry study

Simultaneous changes in visual acuity, cortical population receptive field size, visual field map size, and retinal thickness in healthy human aging

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