Original articleUnderdevelopment of Optic Radiation in Children With Amblyopia: A Tractography Study
Section snippets
Subjects
Fourteen pediatric patients with amblyopia (six males, eight females; age range, 4 to 8 years; mean age 5.8 years) and 14 normally sighted children (10 males, four females; age range, 3.5 to 9 years; mean age 5.8 years) were recruited in this study. Informed consent for participation was obtained from every subject’s parents and the ethics committee at Beijing University approved all the protocols used in this study. The amblyopic children were recruited by physician referral from the pediatric
Results
There was no statistical difference in age between the two groups (5.8 years ± 1.4 for children with amblyopia, 5.8 years ± 1.9 for controls).
Significant difference of FA values was detected between the two sides of ORs in the controls (t = 4.16, P = .001). In the amblyopia group, the effect of vision status and vision-by-side interaction effect were not evident along the ORs, whereas the side difference was significant (F = 6.33, P = .02). It showed that left OR had greater FA than right OR in
Discussion
Diffusion tensor imaging has been considered as a useful method in the evaluation of brain development. It is believed that FA can provide microstructural information on white matter development.10 Tractography, a technique based on DTI, allows us to extract the trajectories of certain fiber tracts in vivo. Although tractography may be affected by image resolution and signal-to-noise ratio, it frequently generates results that are reasonable and reproducible.12 Tractography of the ORs has been
References (29)
- et al.
Structural development of the lateral geniculate nucleus and visual cortex in monkey and man
Behav Brain Res
(1983) - et al.
Pediatric diffusion tensor imaging: normal database and observation of the white matter maturation in early childhood
Neuroimage
(2006) - et al.
MR diffusion tensor imaging: recent advance and new techniques for diffusion tensor visualization
Eur J Radiol
(2003) - et al.
Imaging of postthalamic visual fiber tracts by anisotropic diffusion weighted MRI and diffusion tensor imaging: principles and applications
Eur J Radiol
(2004) - et al.
Long-term locomotor training up-regulates TrkB (FL) receptor-like proteins, brain-derived neurotrophic factor, and neurotrophin 4 with different topographies of expression in oligodendroglia and neurons in the spinal cord
Exp Neurol
(2002) - et al.
Differences in white matter architecture between musicians and non-musicians: a diffusion tensor imaging study
Neurosci Lett
(2002) - et al.
Evoked potential and preferential looking estimates of visual acuity in pediatric patients
Ophthalmology
(1983) - et al.
White matter hemisphere asymmetries in healthy subjects and in schizophrenia: a diffusion tensor MRI study
Neuroimage
(2004) Amblyopia: a multidisciplinary approachProctor lecture
Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci
(1985)- et al.
The lateral geniculate nucleus in human anisometropic amblyopia
Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci
(1983)
Monocular deprivation induces homosynaptic long-term depression in visual cortex
Nature
The cortical deficit in humans with strabismus amblyopia
J Physiol
Neuroimaging in human amblyopia
Strabismus
BOLD fMRI response of early visual areas to perceived contrast in human amblyopia
J Neurophysiol
Cited by (49)
Loss and enhancement of layer-selective signals in geniculostriate and corticotectal pathways of adult human amblyopia
2021, Cell ReportsCitation Excerpt :Effective connectivity analysis revealed reduced geniculostriate connectivity, which is significantly correlated with the visual acuity loss of the AE. It is consistent with previous studies showing structural abnormalities of optic radiation in adults and children with amblyopia (Allen et al., 2015; Qi et al., 2016; Xie et al., 2007). These findings provide direct and conclusive evidence for selective P deficits of the geniculostriate pathway of adult human amblyopia.
Validation of an automated tractography method for the optic radiations as a biomarker of visual acuity in neurofibromatosis-associated optic pathway glioma
2018, Experimental NeurologyCitation Excerpt :The optic radiations convey visual information from the lateral geniculate nucleus to the primary visual cortex. Diffusion measures such as fractional anisotropy (FA) in these tracts have been associated with visual acuity or the presence of disease in optic neuritis, visual pathway tumors, prematurity, and optic neuropathy (Table 1) (Bassi et al., 2008; Berman et al., 2009; Ciccarelli et al., 2005; de Blank et al., 2013; Garaci et al., 2009; James et al., 2015; Klistorner et al., 2014; Klistorner et al., 2016; Koenraads et al., 2016; Kolbe et al., 2012; Lennartsson et al., 2014; Li et al., 2013; Lilja et al., 2015; Milesi et al., 2012; Raz et al., 2014; Reich et al., 2009; Rocca et al., 2013; Xie et al., 2007). A radiographic biomarker of visual acuity in children with optic pathway glioma (OPG) would be an important clinical tool to help guide therapy.
Probabilistic maps of the white matter tracts with known associated functions on the neonatal brain atlas: Application to evaluate longitudinal developmental trajectories in term-born and preterm-born infants
2016, NeuroImageCitation Excerpt :Our results further validate the existence of such laterality by the neonatal period. Laterality in the optic radiation was also reported in children, youth, and adults; however, the direction varied in different parts of the optic radiation (Kang et al., 2011; Park et al., 2004; Takao et al., 2011; Thiebaut de Schotten et al., 2011; Xie et al., 2007). Our findings are consistent with a prior study of children and youth that found left lateralization of FA values due to a higher first eigenvalue, suggesting a lower axon density in the left hemisphere (Dayan et al., 2015).
Altered white matter in early visual pathways of humans with amblyopia
2015, Vision ResearchTract-based spatial statistics analysis of white matter changes in children with anisometropic amblyopia
2015, Neuroscience LettersCitation Excerpt :There are different approaches to analyze diffusion data. For example, Xie et al. [14] selected optic radiation (OR) as region-of-interest (ROI) and found reduced voxel number of posterior ORs in amblyopia. Whereas Li et al. [15] applied voxel-based morphometry (VBM) method and reported alterations of white matter volume in occipital, frontal and precuneus areas.