title: Altered white matter in early visual pathways of humans with amblyopia.
abstract: Amblyopia is a visual disorder caused by poorly coordinated binocular input during development. Little is known about the impact of amblyopia on the white matter within the visual system. We studied the properties of six major visual white-matter pathways in a group of adults with amblyopia (n=10) and matched controls (n=10) using diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) and fiber tractography. While we did not find significant differences in diffusion properties in cortico-cortical pathways, patients with amblyopia exhibited increased mean diffusivity in thalamo-cortical visual pathways. These findings suggest that amblyopia may systematically alter the white matter properties of early visual pathways.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, United States.
authors.forename: Brian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Allen
authors.affiliation: Optometry and Vision Science, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand; McGill Vision Research, Department of Ophthalmology, McGill University, Montreal, Canada.
authors.forename: Daniel P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Spiegel
authors.affiliation: Optometry and Vision Science, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand; Optometry and Vision Science, University of Waterloo, Canada.
authors.forename: Benjamin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Thompson
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, United States.
authors.forename: Franco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Pestilli
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, United States. Electronic address: rokers@wisc.edu.
authors.forename: Bas
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Rokers
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000550:Amblyopia / Q000503:physiopathology*; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001931:Brain Mapping / Q000379:methods; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D038524:Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D056324:Diffusion Tensor Imaging; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000473:pathology*; D014795:Visual Pathways / Q000503:physiopathology*; D066127:White Matter / Q000473:pathology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Amblyopia; Diffusion-MRI; Tractography; White matter