title: Plasticity and stability of the visual system in human achiasma.
abstract: The absence of the optic chiasm is an extraordinary and extreme abnormality in the nervous system. The abnormality produces highly atypical functional responses in the cortex, including overlapping hemifield representations and bilateral population receptive fields in both striate and extrastriate visual cortex. Even in the presence of these large functional abnormalities, the effect on visual perception and daily life is not easily detected. Here, we demonstrate that in two achiasmic humans the gross topography of the geniculostriate and occipital callosal connections remains largely unaltered. We conclude that visual function is preserved by reorganization of intracortical connections instead of large-scale reorganizations of the visual cortex. Thus, developmental mechanisms of local wiring within cortical maps compensate for the improper gross wiring to preserve function in human achiasma.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Otto-von-Guericke-University, 39120 Magdeburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Michael B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Hoffmann
authors.forename: Falko R
authors.initials: FR
authors.lastname: Kaule
authors.forename: Netta
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Levin
authors.forename: Yoichiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Masuda
authors.forename: Anil
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.forename: Irene
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Gottlob
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Horiguchi
authors.forename: Robert F
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Dougherty
authors.forename: Joerg
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Stadler
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Wolynski
authors.forename: Oliver
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Speck
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kanowski
authors.forename: Yaping J
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Liao
authors.forename: Brian A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Wandell
authors.forename: Serge O
authors.initials: SO
authors.lastname: Dumoulin
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity; D009897:Optic Chiasm / Q000002:abnormalities*; D014795:Visual Pathways / Q000033:anatomy & histology*