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Organizational principles of human visual cortex revealed by receptor mapping.

ABSTRACT: This receptorarchitectonic study of the human visual cortex investigated interareal differences in mean receptor concentrations and laminar distribution patterns of 16 neurotransmitter receptors in the dorsal and ventral parts of areas V1, V2, V3 as well as in adjoining areas V4 (ventrally) and V3A (dorsally). Both the functional hierarchy of these areas and a distinction between dorsal and ventral visual cortices were reflected by significant receptorarchitectonic differences. The observation that dorso-ventral differences existed in all extrastriate areas (including V2) is particularly important for the discussion about the relationship between dorsal and ventral V3 as it indicates that a receptorarchitectonic distinction between the ventral and dorsal visual cortices is present in but not specific to V3. This molecular specificity is mirrored by previously reported differences in retinal microstructure and functional differences as revealed in behavioral experiments demonstrating differential advantages for stimulus processing in the upper and lower visual fields. We argue that these anatomical and functional differences may be regarded as the result of an evolutionary optimization adapting to the processing of the most relevant stimuli occurring in the upper and lower visual fields.

SUBMITTER: Eickhoff SB

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2733321 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Organizational principles of human visual cortex revealed by receptor mapping.

Eickhoff Simon B SB Rottschy Claudia C Kujovic Milenko M Palomero-Gallagher Nicola N Zilles Karl K Zilles Karl K

Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991) 20080304 11

This receptorarchitectonic study of the human visual cortex investigated interareal differences in mean receptor concentrations and laminar distribution patterns of 16 neurotransmitter receptors in the dorsal and ventral parts of areas V1, V2, V3 as well as in adjoining areas V4 (ventrally) and V3A (dorsally). Both the functional hierarchy of these areas and a distinction between dorsal and ventral visual cortices were reflected by significant receptorarchitectonic differences. The observation t ...[more]

PMID: 18321873

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Project description:Is visual input during critical periods of development crucial for the emergence of the fundamental topographical mapping of the visual cortex? And would this structure be retained throughout life-long blindness or would it fade as a result of plastic, use-based reorganization? We used functional connectivity magnetic resonance imaging based on intrinsic blood oxygen level-dependent fluctuations to investigate whether significant traces of topographical mapping of the visual scene in the form of retinotopic organization, could be found in congenitally blind adults. A group of 11 fully and congenitally blind subjects and 18 sighted controls were studied. The blind demonstrated an intact functional connectivity network structural organization of the three main retinotopic mapping axes: eccentricity (centre-periphery), laterality (left-right), and elevation (upper-lower) throughout the retinotopic cortex extending to high-level ventral and dorsal streams, including characteristic eccentricity biases in face- and house-selective areas. Functional connectivity-based topographic organization in the visual cortex was indistinguishable from the normally sighted retinotopic functional connectivity structure as indicated by clustering analysis, and was found even in participants who did not have a typical retinal development in utero (microphthalmics). While the internal structural organization of the visual cortex was strikingly similar, the blind exhibited profound differences in functional connectivity to other (non-visual) brain regions as compared to the sighted, which were specific to portions of V1. Central V1 was more connected to language areas but peripheral V1 to spatial attention and control networks. These findings suggest that current accounts of critical periods and experience-dependent development should be revisited even for primary sensory areas, in that the connectivity basis for visual cortex large-scale topographical organization can develop without any visual experience and be retained through life-long experience-dependent plasticity. Furthermore, retinotopic divisions of labour, such as that between the visual cortex regions normally representing the fovea and periphery, also form the basis for topographically-unique plastic changes in the blind.

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Organizational principles of human visual cortex revealed by receptor mapping.

Publications

Organizational principles of human visual cortex revealed by receptor mapping.

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