title: Visual cortex and auditory cortex activation in early binocularly blind macaques: A BOLD-fMRI study using auditory stimuli.
abstract: Cross-modal plasticity within the visual and auditory cortices of early binocularly blind macaques is not well studied. In this study, four healthy neonatal macaques were assigned to group A (control group) or group B (binocularly blind group). Sixteen months later, blood oxygenation level-dependent functional imaging (BOLD-fMRI) was conducted to examine the activation in the visual and auditory cortices of each macaque while being tested using pure tones as auditory stimuli. The changes in the BOLD response in the visual and auditory cortices of all macaques were compared with immunofluorescence staining findings. Compared with group A, greater BOLD activity was observed in the bilateral visual cortices of group B, and this effect was particularly obvious in the right visual cortex. In addition, more activated volumes were found in the bilateral auditory cortices of group B than of group A, especially in the right auditory cortex. These findings were consistent with the fact that there were more c-Fos-positive cells in the bilateral visual and auditory cortices of group B compared with group A (p < 0.05). In conclusion, the bilateral visual cortices of binocularly blind macaques can be reorganized to process auditory stimuli after visual deprivation, and this effect is more obvious in the right than the left visual cortex. These results indicate the establishment of cross-modal plasticity within the visual and auditory cortices.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Eye & ENT Hospital of Shanghai Medical School, Fudan University, Shanghai 200031, China.
authors.forename: Rong
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology, Eye & ENT Hospital of Shanghai Medical School, Fudan University, Shanghai 200031, China.
authors.forename: Lingjie
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Eye & ENT Hospital of Shanghai Medical School, Fudan University, Shanghai 200031, China. Electronic address: tzh518sunny@163.com.
authors.forename: Zuohua
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology & Visual Science, Eye & ENT Hospital of Shanghai Medical School, State Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology, Institutes of Brain Science, Fudan University, Key Laboratory of Myopia, NHFPC (Fudan University), and Shanghai Key Laboratory of Visual Impairment and Restoration (Fudan University), Shanghai 200031, China. Electronic address: xhsun@shmu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Xinghuai
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Huashan Hospital of Shanghai Medical School, Fudan University, Shanghai 200040, China.
authors.forename: Xiaoyuan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Huashan Hospital of Shanghai Medical School, Fudan University, Shanghai 200040, China.
authors.forename: Weijun
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Eye & ENT Hospital of Shanghai Medical School, Fudan University, Shanghai 200031, China.
authors.forename: Wen
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Qian
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiotherapy, Eye & ENT Hospital of Shanghai Medical School, Fudan University, Shanghai 200031, China.
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Siemens Ltd. Healthcare Sector, Shanghai 201318, China.
authors.forename: Lixin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Eye & ENT Hospital of Shanghai Medical School, Fudan University, Shanghai 200031, China; Department of Radiology, Jinshan Hospital of Shanghai Medical School, Fudan University, Shanghai 200540, China.
authors.forename: Yufeng
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhong
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Eye & ENT Hospital of Shanghai Medical School, Fudan University, Shanghai 200031, China.
authors.forename: Zebin
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Xiao
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D001303:Auditory Cortex / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000378:metabolism / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001766:Blindness / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005455:Fluorescent Antibody Technique; D008251:Macaca; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D010100:Oxygen / Q000097:blood; D016760:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos / Q000378:metabolism; D015348:Vision, Binocular; D014793:Visual Cortex / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000378:metabolism / Q000503:physiopathology*
chemical_list: D016760:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos; D010100:Oxygen
keywords: Auditory cortex; BOLD-fMRI; Binocular blindness; Cross-modal plasticity; Macaques; Visual cortex