Contralateral Visual Hemifield Representations in the Human Pulvinar Nucleus

2007 ◽  
Vol 98 (3) ◽  
pp. 1600-1609 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philippa L. Cotton ◽  
Andrew T. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Visual Stimulus ◽  
Discrimination Task ◽  
Spatial Organization ◽  
Group Analysis ◽  
Blood Oxygen Level Dependent ◽  
Global Motion ◽  
Blood Oxygen Level ◽  
Motion Discrimination ◽  
Visual Hemifield ◽  
Luminance Discrimination

The pulvinar is a major nucleus of the thalamus. Macaque pulvinar includes two subregions that are connected to the visual cortex and are retinotopically organized, but the organizing principles of the visual portions of the human pulvinar are unknown. We employed two tasks to address the question of whether human pulvinar exhibits spatial organization using event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging. The first was a global-motion discrimination with a rich visual stimulus and the second a luminance-discrimination task of similar difficulty that used a minimal visual stimulus. Both tasks required central fixation and covert peripheral attention. A group analysis of blood-oxygen-level-dependent responses elicited in the motion-discrimination task revealed activity bilaterally in the ventral pulvinar ( z = 2 in Talairach space). Clear position specificity was observed with activity elicited only by contralateral stimuli. Ipsilateral stimuli caused suppression. This locus of activity is distinct from the more dorsal ( z = 10) region of the pulvinar that has previously been reported to be visually responsive but not retinotopic. In the luminance-discrimination task, similar activity was seen, but it was weaker and detectable only in the left pulvinar. In additional experiments with no task, passively viewed global-motion stimuli also activated the ventral pulvinar bilaterally. Our results show for the first time a distinct, bilateral visual representation in human inferior pulvinar that appears to be contralaterally organized.

Human neural responses involved in spatial pooling of locally ambiguous motion signals

2012 ◽  
Vol 107 (12) ◽  
pp. 3493-3508 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kaoru Amano ◽  
Tsunehiro Takeda ◽  
Tomoki Haji ◽  
Masahiko Terao ◽  
Kazushi Maruya ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Visual System ◽  
Visual Motion ◽  
Blood Oxygen Level Dependent ◽  
Selective Adaptation ◽  
Direction Selectivity ◽  
Global Motion ◽  
Blood Oxygen Level ◽  
Motion Vectors ◽  
Spatial Pooling ◽  
Neurophysiological Studies

Early visual motion signals are local and one-dimensional (1-D). For specification of global two-dimensional (2-D) motion vectors, the visual system should appropriately integrate these signals across orientation and space. Previous neurophysiological studies have suggested that this integration process consists of two computational steps (estimation of local 2-D motion vectors, followed by their spatial pooling), both being identified in the area MT. Psychophysical findings, however, suggest that under certain stimulus conditions, the human visual system can also compute mathematically correct global motion vectors from direct pooling of spatially distributed 1-D motion signals. To study the neural mechanisms responsible for this novel 1-D motion pooling, we conducted human magnetoencephalography (MEG) and functional MRI experiments using a global motion stimulus comprising multiple moving Gabors (global-Gabor motion). In the first experiment, we measured MEG and blood oxygen level-dependent responses while changing motion coherence of global-Gabor motion. In the second experiment, we investigated cortical responses correlated with direction-selective adaptation to the global 2-D motion, not to local 1-D motions. We found that human MT complex (hMT+) responses show both coherence dependency and direction selectivity to global motion based on 1-D pooling. The results provide the first evidence that hMT+ is the locus of 1-D motion pooling, as well as that of conventional 2-D motion pooling.

scholarly journals Interictal cortical hyperresponsiveness in migraine is directly related to the presence of aura

Cephalalgia ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 33 (6) ◽  
pp. 365-374 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ritobrato Datta ◽  
Geoffrey K Aguirre ◽  
Siyuan Hu ◽  
John A Detre ◽  
Brett Cucchiara
Keyword(s):  
Blood Flow ◽  
Cerebral Blood Flow ◽  
Visual Stimulus ◽  
Visual Stimulation ◽  
Blood Oxygen Level Dependent ◽  
Blood Oxygen Level ◽  
Visual Discomfort ◽  
Bold Fmri ◽  
Control Subjects ◽  
And Control

Objective The objective of this study was to compare the interictal cortical response to a visual stimulus between migraine with aura (MWA), migraine without aura (MwoA), and control subjects. Methods In a prospective case-control study, blood oxygen level-dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging (BOLD fMRI) was used to assess the response to a visual stimulus and arterial spin labeled perfusion MR to determine resting cerebral blood flow. A standardized questionnaire was used to assess interictal visual discomfort. Results Seventy-five subjects (25 MWA, 25 MwoA, and 25 controls) were studied. BOLD fMRI response to visual stimulation within primary visual cortex was greater in MWA (3.09 ± 0.15%) compared to MwoA (2.36 ± 0.13%, p = 0.0008) and control subjects (2.47 ± 0.11%, p = 0.002); responses were also greater in the lateral geniculate nuclei in MWA. No difference was found between MwoA and control groups. Whole brain analysis showed that increased activation in MWA was confined to the occipital pole. Regional resting cerebral blood flow did not differ between groups. MWA and MwoA subjects had significantly greater levels of interictal visual discomfort compared to controls ( p = 0.008 and p = 0.005, respectively), but this did not correlate with BOLD response. Conclusions Despite similar interictal symptoms of visual discomfort, only MWA subjects have cortical hyperresponsiveness to visual stimulus, suggesting a direct connection between cortical hyperresponsiveness and aura itself.

scholarly journals Reproducibility of swallow-induced cortical BOLD positive and negative fMRI activity

2012 ◽  
Vol 303 (5) ◽  
pp. G600-G609 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arash Babaei ◽  
B. Douglas Ward ◽  
Shahryar Ahmad ◽  
Anna Patel ◽  
Andrew Nencka ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Multilevel Model ◽  
Cross Correlation ◽  
Group Analysis ◽  
Blood Oxygen Level Dependent ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Blood Oxygen Level ◽  
Signal Change ◽  
Cortical Regions ◽  
Negative Bold ◽  
Task Positive Network

Functional MRI (fMRI) studies have demonstrated that a number of brain regions (cingulate, insula, prefrontal, and sensory/motor cortices) display blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) positive activity during swallow. Negative BOLD activations and reproducibility of these activations have not been systematically studied. The aim of our study was to investigate the reproducibility of swallow-related cortical positive and negative BOLD activity across different fMRI sessions. We studied 16 healthy volunteers utilizing an fMRI event-related analysis. Individual analysis using a general linear model was used to remove undesirable signal changes correlated with motion, white matter, and cerebrospinal fluid. The group analysis used a mixed-effects multilevel model to identify active cortical regions. The volume and magnitude of a BOLD signal within each cluster was compared between the two study sessions. All subjects showed significant clustered BOLD activity within the known areas of cortical swallowing network across both sessions. The cross-correlation coefficient of percent fMRI signal change and the number of activated voxels across both positive and negative BOLD networks were similar between the two studies ( r ≥ 0.87, P < 0.0001). Swallow-associated negative BOLD activity was comparable to the well-defined “default-mode” network, and positive BOLD activity had noticeable overlap with the previously described “task-positive” network. Swallow activates two parallel cortical networks. These include a positive and a negative BOLD network, respectively, correlated and anticorrelated with swallow stimulus. Group cortical activity maps, as well as extent and amplitude of activity induced by volitional swallowing in the cortical swallowing network, are reproducible between study sessions.

scholarly journals Evaluation of Renal Tissue Oxygenation Using Blood Oxygen Level-Dependent Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Chronic Kidney Disease

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Fen Chen ◽  
Han Yan ◽  
Fan Yang ◽  
Li Cheng ◽  
Siwei Zhang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Renal Function ◽  
Tissue Oxygenation ◽  
Blood Oxygen Level Dependent ◽  
Renal Tissue ◽  
Selection Method ◽  
Resonance Imaging ◽  
Blood Oxygen Level ◽  
Bold Mri ◽  
Function Group ◽  
Renal Function Group

<b><i>Background:</i></b> Blood oxygen level-dependent magnetic resonance imaging (BOLD-MRI) has been widely used to assess renal oxygenation changes in different kidney diseases in recent years. This study was designed to evaluate and compare renal tissue oxygenation using 2 BOLD-MRI analysis methods, namely, the regional and whole-kidney region of interest (ROI) selection methods. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> The study ended up with 10 healthy controls and 40 chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients without dialysis. Their renal BOLD-MRI data were analyzed using whole-kidney ROI selection method and compared with regional ROI selection method. <b><i>Results:</i></b> We found the cortical, medullary, and whole-kidney R2* values were significantly higher in CKD patients than those in controls. Compared with the regional ROI selection method, the whole-kidney ROI selection method yielded higher cortical R2* values in both controls and CKD patients. The whole-kidney R2* values of deteriorating renal function group were significantly higher than those in stable renal function group. <b><i>Conclusions:</i></b> Cortical and medullary oxygenation was decreased significantly in CKD patients compared with the healthy controls, particularly in the medulla. The whole-kidney R2* values were positively correlated with kidney function and inversely correlated with the estimated glomerular filtration rate and effective renal plasma flow. Whole-Kidney R2* value might effectively predict the progression of renal function in patients with CKD.

Visual Cortex Alterations in Early and Late Blind Subjects During Tactile Perception

Perception ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 50 (3) ◽  
pp. 249-265
Author(s):  
A. Ankeeta ◽  
S. Senthil Kumaran ◽  
Rohit Saxena ◽  
Sada N. Dwivedi ◽  
Naranamangalam R. Jagannathan
Keyword(s):  
Visual Cortex ◽  
Children And Adolescents ◽  
Age Of Onset ◽  
Human Subjects ◽  
Functional Results ◽  
Blood Oxygen Level Dependent ◽  
Tactile Perception ◽  
Blood Oxygen Level ◽  
Sensory Motor ◽  
Post Hoc

Involvement of visual cortex varies during tactile perception tasks in early blind (EB) and late blind (LB) human subjects. This study explored differences in sensory motor networks associated with tactile task in EB and LB subjects and between children and adolescents. A total of 40 EB subjects, 40 LB subjects, and 30 sighted controls were recruited in two subgroups: children (6–12 years) and adolescents (13–19 years). Data were acquired using a 3T MR scanner. Analyses of blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD), functional connectivity (FC), correlation, and post hoc test for multiple comparisons were carried out. Difference in BOLD activity was observed in EB and LB groups in visual cortex during tactile perception, with increased FC of visual with dorsal attention and sensory motor networks in EB. EB adolescents exhibited increased connectivity with default mode and salience networks when compared with LB. Functional results correlated with duration of training, suggestive of better performance in EB. Alteration in sensory and visual networks in EB and LB correlated with duration of tactile training. Age of onset of blindness has an effect in cross-modal reorganization of visual cortex in EB and multimodal in LB in children and adolescents.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document