Manganese‐enhanced magnetic resonance imaging combined with electrophysiology in the evaluation of visual pathway in experimental rat models with monocular blindness

Abstract

PurposeOur study aimed to explore the feasibility of manganese‐enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MEMRI) combined with visual evoked potentials (VEP) and auditory evoked visual cortex responses (AVR) in evaluating for the establishment of visual/auditory compensatory pathways after monocular blindness.Materials and MethodsA total of 14 healthy neonatal male Sprague‐Dawley rats were randomly divided into two groups (n = 7 for Groups A and B). Right optic nerve (ON) transection was performed on the 7 rats of Group A to obtain a monocularly blind model, and the 7 rats of Group B were chosen as the control group. Four months later, 400 mmol MnCl2 was injected into the left eye in both groups via intravitreal injection. The changes in the visual pathways projected from the blind eye and the remaining eye in Group A and the normal eyes in Group B were compared to determine if new visual compensatory pathways were established. Additionally, VEP tests were performed to determine complete blindness, and AVR examinations were performed to help identify the generation of auditory compensatory function.ResultsThe VEP test indicated complete visual loss after ON transection. In the monocularly blind rats, the contrast‐to‐noise ratio (CNR) of ON, optic tract (OT), lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN), superior colliculus (SC), optic radiation (OR) and visual cortex (VC) of visual pathway projected from the left eye was significantly higher than that of the right pathway (p < .001). Moreover, the CNR of ON, OT, LGN, SC, OR and VC in the visual pathway projected from the left eye of monocularly blind rats was significantly lower than those of normal rats (p < .05). The AVR results revealed that the corresponding bilateral visual cortex in monocularly blind rats did not respond to the auditory stimulus or showed dissimilation with the low frequency.Conclusion MEMRI combined with electrophysiology, including VEP and AVR, may be potentially helpful in the evaluation of the possible generation of new visual/auditory compensatory pathways after monocular blindness.

Manganese-Enhanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging: Overview and Central Nervous System Applications With a Focus on Neurodegeneration

“…With an increase in detectable projections from both the retina and visual cortex following enucleation, this study demonstrates the ability of MEMRI to not only map the visual system, but also to detect finer neuroplastic changes. Other studies have since demonstrated the ability of MEMRI to detect sensory system-wide neuroplastic changes (Tang et al, 2017a,b).…”