Journal article
Thick Visual Cortex in the Early Blind
The Journal of neuroscience, Vol.29(7), pp.2205-2211
02/18/2009
DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.5451-08.2009
PMCID: PMC6666343
PMID: 19228973
Abstract
We investigated the key neurodevelopmental factors that determine cortical thickness, namely synaptogenesis and regression, by analyzing the thickness of the visual cortex in humans with early- and late-onset blindness. The bilateral visual cortices of the early blind were significantly thicker than those of the late blind and the sighted controls, but the latter two groups did not differ significantly. This suggests reduced “pruning” of synapses in the visual cortex, which may be due to a lack of visual experience during a critical developmental period. These findings support the hypothesis that sensory experience is necessary for an appropriate regression and remodeling of neuronal processes and that synaptic regression might be a major determinant of macroscopic anatomical features like cortical thickness.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Thick Visual Cortex in the Early Blind
- Creators
- Jiefeng Jiang - LIAMA Center for Computational Medicine, National Laboratory of Pattern Recognition, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, ChinaWanlin Zhu - LIAMA Center for Computational Medicine, National Laboratory of Pattern Recognition, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, ChinaFeng Shi - LIAMA Center for Computational Medicine, National Laboratory of Pattern Recognition, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, ChinaYong Liu - LIAMA Center for Computational Medicine, National Laboratory of Pattern Recognition, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, ChinaJun Li - LIAMA Center for Computational Medicine, National Laboratory of Pattern Recognition, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, ChinaWen Qin - Department of Radiology, Xuanwu Hospital of Capital Medical University, Beijing 100053, ChinaKuncheng Li - Department of Radiology, Xuanwu Hospital of Capital Medical University, Beijing 100053, ChinaChunshui Yu - Department of Radiology, Xuanwu Hospital of Capital Medical University, Beijing 100053, ChinaTianzi Jiang - LIAMA Center for Computational Medicine, National Laboratory of Pattern Recognition, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- The Journal of neuroscience, Vol.29(7), pp.2205-2211
- Publisher
- Society for Neuroscience
- DOI
- 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.5451-08.2009
- PMID
- 19228973
- PMCID
- PMC6666343
- ISSN
- 0270-6474
- eISSN
- 1529-2401
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 02/18/2009
- Academic Unit
- Psychological and Brain Sciences; Iowa Neuroscience Institute
- Record Identifier
- 9984065732602771
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