Cortical plasticity and preserved function in early blindness

Renier, Laurent; Volder, Anne De; Rauschecker, Josef P.

doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2013.01.025

Cited by 129 publications

(88 citation statements)

References 152 publications

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“…The structural abnormalities present in the foveal area in some cases (also demonstrated in Figure S1h suggest an ability to learn to use the novel form of "vision" provided by these systems 43 , and abundant literature on sensory substitution as applied to the visual system provides further support for this type of plasticity 44 . Finally, in a number of RPE65-LCA patients treated by gene-augmentation therapy, a shift of visual fixation to the treated parafoveal retinal area was observed 9-12 months after treatment with preservation of light sensitivity restricted to the cortical projection zone of the newly formed pseudo-foveas 45,46 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 92%

Gene Augmentation Therapy Restores Retinal Function and Visual Behavior in a Sheep Model of CNGA3 Achromatopsia

et al. 2015

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Achromatopsia is a hereditary form of day blindness caused by cone photoreceptor dysfunction. Affected patients suffer from congenital color blindness, photosensitivity, and low visual acuity. Mutations in the CNGA3 gene are a major cause of achromatopsia, and a sheep model of this disease was recently characterized by our group. Here, we report that unilateral subretinal delivery of an adeno-associated virus serotype 5 (AAV5) vector carrying either the mouse or the human intact CNGA3 gene under the control of the red/green opsin promoter results in long-term recovery of visual function in CNGA3-mutant sheep. Treated animals demonstrated shorter maze passage times and a reduced number of collisions with obstacles compared with their pretreatment status, with values close to those of unaffected sheep. This effect was abolished when the treated eye was patched. Electroretinography (ERG) showed marked improvement in cone function. Retinal expression of the transfected human and mouse CNGA3 genes at the mRNA level was shown by polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and cone-specific expression of CNGA3 protein was demonstrated by immunohistochemisrty. The rescue effect has so far been maintained for over 3 years in the first-treated animals, with no obvious ocular or systemic side effects. The results support future application of subretinal AAV5-mediated gene-augmentation therapy in CNGA3 achromatopsia patients.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 92%

Gene Augmentation Therapy Restores Retinal Function and Visual Behavior in a Sheep Model of CNGA3 Achromatopsia

et al. 2015

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“…reviewed in Bavelier and Neville, 2002;Sadato, 2006;Renier et al, 2014;Ricciardi et al, 2014). These effects include both auditory as well as haptic responses within visual cortices.…”

Section: The Anatomic Scaffolding For Multisensory Processes In the Pmentioning

confidence: 99%

The multisensory function of the human primary visual cortex

et al. 2016

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2It has been nearly ten years since Ghazanfar and Schroeder (2006) proposed that the neocortex is essentially multisensory in nature. However, it is only recently that sufficient and hard evidence that supports this proposal has accrued. We review evidence that activity within the human primary visual cortex plays an active role in multisensory processes and directly impacts behavioural outcome. This evidence emerges from a full pallet of human brain imaging and brain mapping methods with which multisensory processes are quantitatively assessed by taking advantage of particular strengths of each technique as well as advances in signal analyses. Several general conclusions about multisensory processes in primary visual cortex of humans are supported relatively solidly. First, haemodynamic methods (fMRI/PET) show that there is both convergence and integration occurring within primary visual cortex. Second, primary visual cortex is involved in multisensory processes during early post-stimulus stages (as revealed by EEG/ERP/ERFs as well as TMS). Third, multisensory effects in primary visual cortex directly impact behaviour and perception, as revealed by correlational (EEG/ERPs/ERFs) as well as more causal measures (TMS/tACS). While the provocative claim of Ghazanfar and Schroeder (2006) that the whole of neocortex is multisensory in function has yet to be demonstrated, this can now be considered established in the case of the human primary visual cortex.

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“…Historically, the blind brain has been primarily investigated from the perspective of the compensatory ability of early visual areas to process non-visual information (Sadato et al, 1996; for reviews see Frasnelli et al, 2011; Kupers and Ptito, 2011; Renier et al, 2014). At the same time, several experiments have been conducted to understand to what extent visual experience is a mandatory prerequisite for the human brain to develop its morphological and functional architecture (Ricciardi et al, 2014a).…”

Section: Preamblementioning

confidence: 99%

Are Supramodality and Cross-Modal Plasticity the Yin and Yang of Brain Development? From Blindness to Rehabilitation

Cecchetti

Kupers

Ptito

et al. 2016

Front. Syst. Neurosci.

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Research in blind individuals has primarily focused for a long time on the brain plastic reorganization that occurs in early visual areas. Only more recently, scientists have developed innovative strategies to understand to what extent vision is truly a mandatory prerequisite for the brain’s fine morphological architecture to develop and function. As a whole, the studies conducted to date in sighted and congenitally blind individuals have provided ample evidence that several “visual” cortical areas develop independently from visual experience and do process information content regardless of the sensory modality through which a particular stimulus is conveyed: a property named supramodality. At the same time, lack of vision leads to a structural and functional reorganization within “visual” brain areas, a phenomenon known as cross-modal plasticity. Cross-modal recruitment of the occipital cortex in visually deprived individuals represents an adaptative compensatory mechanism that mediates processing of non-visual inputs. Supramodality and cross-modal plasticity appears to be the “yin and yang” of brain development: supramodal is what takes place despite the lack of vision, whereas cross-modal is what happens because of lack of vision. Here we provide a critical overview of the research in this field and discuss the implications that these novel findings have for the development of educative/rehabilitation approaches and sensory substitution devices (SSDs) in sensory-impaired individuals.

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Cortical plasticity and preserved function in early blindness

Cited by 129 publications

References 152 publications

Gene Augmentation Therapy Restores Retinal Function and Visual Behavior in a Sheep Model of CNGA3 Achromatopsia

Gene Augmentation Therapy Restores Retinal Function and Visual Behavior in a Sheep Model of CNGA3 Achromatopsia

The multisensory function of the human primary visual cortex

Are Supramodality and Cross-Modal Plasticity the Yin and Yang of Brain Development? From Blindness to Rehabilitation

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