Shaping the visual system: cortical and subcortical plasticity in the intact and the lesioned brain

Grasso, Paolo A.; Gallina, Jessica; Bertini, Caterina

doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2020.107464

Cited by 14 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 188 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Because of the emerging data on visual system involvement in SCD, 14–17 the present brain MRI study focused on the visual cortex. Using very restrictive criteria for investigating cortical thickness changes (e.g., limited age‐range among patients, high patient exclusion rate because of movement‐related suboptimal cortical thickness evaluation, whole‐brain voxel‐based analysis, correction for multiple comparisons), our study showed an unexpected, almost‐symmetric increase of cortical thickness in the posterior pericalcarine cortex, which is primarily involved in the processing of the retinal stimuli and, consequently, in the function of vision, 19,20 thus allowing a few interesting considerations.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Our study focused on various sites in the primary and secondary visual cortex (pericalcarine region; lingual; cuneus; posterior fusiform gyrus; superior, middle and inferior occipital gyri), encompassing 17, 18 and 19 Brodmann areas, because they are known to have functional importance in the processing of images, faces, moving objects, alphabet letter recognition, reading and writing. 19,20 Table II reports all the clusters greater than 50 mm 2 where the cortical thickness was found to differ significantly between SCD children and controls while performing a whole brain analysis. In particular, SCD patients showed three large clusters of abnormally-increased cortical thickness (red-yellow areas in Figure 1) in the pericalcarine regions bilaterally (i.e., at the level of the primary visual cortex).…”

Section: Cortical Thickness Whole Brain Analysis and Resting State Fmmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The latter (i.e., the primary and secondary visual cortex) is located in the occipital lobe and it is not only involved in processing retinal information but also in superior cortical functions such as reading, writing, movement perception, distance or size evaluation as well as identification of faces and objects. 19,20 The aim of the present study was to investigate, with advanced multimodal MRI analyses, structural and functional changes in the cerebral part of the visual system of children with SCD, using a control group for comparison and taking into account age-related changes that occur during childhood.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…So far, all studies investigating the visual function were focused on the anterior portion of the visual system, neglecting the changes that can be present – either as a consequence or as a cause – in the cortical portion of the visual pathway. The latter (i.e., the primary and secondary visual cortex) is located in the occipital lobe and it is not only involved in processing retinal information but also in superior cortical functions such as reading, writing, movement perception, distance or size evaluation as well as identification of faces and objects 19,20 …”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

Visual cortex changes in children with sickle cell disease and normal visual acuity: a multimodal magnetic resonance imaging study

Manara

Torre²,

Lucchetta³

et al. 2020

Br J Haematol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The visual system is primarily affected in sickle cell disease (SCD), and eye examination is recommended starting in late childhood. So far, to our knowledge, all studies have focused on the retina, neglecting the changes that might be present in the cortical portion of the visual system. We performed a multimodal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) evaluation of the visual cortex in 25 children with SCD (mean age: 12Á3 AE 1Á9 years) and 31 controls (mean age: 12Á7 AE 1Á6 years). At ophthalmologic examination, 3/ 25 SCD children had mild visual acuity deficits and 2/25 had mild tortuosity of the retinal vessels. None showed optic pathway infarcts at MRI or Transcranial Doppler abnormal blood velocities, and 6/25 disclosed posterior cerebral artery stenosis (five mild and one severe) at MR-angiography. Compared to controls, SCD children had increased posterior pericalcarine cortical thickness, with a different trajectory of cortical maturation and decreased connectivity within medial and ventral visual neural networks. Our findings suggest that SCD affects the development and the tuning of the visual cortex, leading to anatomical and functional changes in childhood even in the absence of retinopathy, and set the basis for future studies to determine if these changes can represent useful predictors of visual impairment in adulthood, biomarkers of disease progression or treatment response.

show abstract

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Cortical Thickness Whole Brain Analysis and Resting State Fmmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Visual cortex changes in children with sickle cell disease and normal visual acuity: a multimodal magnetic resonance imaging study

Manara

Torre²,

Lucchetta³

et al. 2020

Br J Haematol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Visual system

2023

Essential Clinical Neuroanatomy

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Alterations in resting-state functional connectivity after brain posterior lesions reflect the functionality of the visual system in hemianopic patients

et al. 2022

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Emerging evidence suggests a role of the posterior cortices in regulating alpha oscillatory activity and organizing low-level processing in non-alpha frequency bands. Therefore, posterior brain lesions, which damage the neural circuits of the visual system, might affect functional connectivity patterns of brain rhythms. To test this hypothesis, eyes-closed resting state EEG signal was acquired from patients with hemianopia with left and right posterior lesions, patients without hemianopia with more anterior lesions and healthy controls. Left-lesioned hemianopics showed reduced intrahemispheric connectivity in the range of upper alpha only in the lesioned hemisphere, whereas right-lesioned hemianopics exhibited reduced intrahemispheric alpha connectivity in both hemispheres. In terms of network topology, these impairments were characterized by reduced local functional segregation, with no associated change in global functional integration. This suggests a crucial role of posterior cortices in promoting functional connectivity in the range of alpha. Right-lesioned hemianopics revealed also additional impairments in the theta range, with increased connectivity in this frequency band, characterized by both increased local segregated activity and decreased global integration. This indicates that lesions to right posterior cortices lead to stronger impairments in alpha connectivity and induce additional alterations in local and global low-level processing, suggesting a specialization of the right hemisphere in generating alpha oscillations and in coordinating complex interplays with lower frequency bands. Importantly, hemianopic patient’s visual performance in the blind field was linked to alpha functional connectivity, corroborating the notion that alpha oscillatory patterns represent a biomarker of the integrity and the functioning of the underlying visual system.

show abstract

Shaping the visual system: cortical and subcortical plasticity in the intact and the lesioned brain

Cited by 14 publications

References 188 publications

Visual cortex changes in children with sickle cell disease and normal visual acuity: a multimodal magnetic resonance imaging study

Visual cortex changes in children with sickle cell disease and normal visual acuity: a multimodal magnetic resonance imaging study

Visual system

Alterations in resting-state functional connectivity after brain posterior lesions reflect the functionality of the visual system in hemianopic patients

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About