title: Progressive Thinning of Visual Motion Area in Lower Limb Amputees.
abstract: Accumulating evidence has indicated that amputation or deafferentation of a limb induces functional or structural reorganization in the visual areas. However, the extent of the visual areas involved after lower limb amputation remains uncertain. In this investigation, we studied 48 adult patients with unilateral lower limb amputation and 48 matched healthy controls using T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging. Template-based regions of interest analysis was implemented to detect the changes of cortical thickness in the specific visual areas. Compared with normal controls, amputees exhibited significantly lower thickness in the V5/middle temporal (V5/MT+) visual area, as well as a trend of cortical thinning in the V3d. There was no significant difference in the other visual areas between the two groups. In addition, no significant difference of cortical thickness was found between patients with amputation at different levels. Across all amputees, correlation analyses revealed that the cortical thickness of the V5/MT+ was negatively correlated to the time since amputation. In conclusion, our findings indicate that the amputation of unilateral lower limb could induce changes in the motor-related visual cortex and provide an update on the plasticity of the human brain after limb injury.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Southwest Hospital, Third Military Medical University , Chongqing , China.
authors.forename: Guangyao
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Southwest Hospital, Third Military Medical University , Chongqing , China.
authors.forename: Chuanming
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Rehabilitation, Southwest Hospital, Third Military Medical University , Chongqing , China.
authors.forename: Jixiang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: National Laboratory of Pattern Recognition, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing , China.
authors.forename: Tianzi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: Department of Osteology, Traditional Chinese Medical Hospital of Taian , Taian , China.
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: McConnell Brain Imaging Centre, Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University , Montreal, QC , Canada.
authors.forename: Lu
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: McConnell Brain Imaging Centre, Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University , Montreal, QC , Canada.
authors.forename: Alan C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Evans
authors.affiliation: Department of Rehabilitation, Southwest Hospital, Third Military Medical University , Chongqing , China.
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Southwest Hospital, Third Military Medical University , Chongqing , China.
authors.forename: Shuhua
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ran
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Southwest Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, China; McConnell Brain Imaging Centre, Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.
authors.forename: Xuntao
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yin
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Southwest Hospital, Third Military Medical University , Chongqing , China.
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
keywords: V5/MT+; amputation; brain plasticity; cortical thickness; visual motion area