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Morphometric Changes of the Corpus Callosum in Congenital Blindness

Tomaiuolo, Francesco and Campana, Serena and Collins, D. Louis and Fonov, Vladimir S. and Ricciardi, Emiliano and Sartori, Giuseppe and Pietrini, Pietro and Kupers, Ron and Ptito, Maurice Morphometric Changes of the Corpus Callosum in Congenital Blindness. PloS One, 9. e107871. ISSN 1932-6203 (2014)

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Abstract

We examined the effects of visual deprivation at birth on the development of the corpus callosum in a large group of congenitally blind individuals. We acquired high-resolution T1-weighted MRI scans in 28 congenitally blind and 28 normal sighted subjects matched for age and gender. There was no overall group effect of visual deprivation on the total surface area of the corpus callosum. However, subdividing the corpus callosum into five subdivisions revealed significant regional changes in its three most posterior parts. Compared to the sighted controls, congenitally blind individuals showed a 12 reduction in the splenium, and a 20 increase in the isthmus and the posterior part of the body. A shape analysis further revealed that the bending angle of the corpus callosum was more convex in congenitally blind compared to the sighted control subjects. The observed morphometric changes in the corpus callosum are in line with the well-described cross-modal functional and structural neuroplastic changes in congenital blindness.

Item Type: Article
Identification Number: 10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0107871
Uncontrolled Keywords: Corpus callosum, Blindness, Magnetic resonance imaging, Retinopathy of prematurity, Preterm birth, Vision
Subjects: R Medicine > RC Internal medicine > RC0321 Neuroscience. Biological psychiatry. Neuropsychiatry
Research Area: Computer Science and Applications
Depositing User: Caterina Tangheroni
Date Deposited: 10 Nov 2015 11:47
Last Modified: 13 Sep 2016 09:46
URI: http://eprints.imtlucca.it/id/eprint/2873

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