Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Neural Plasticity in the Visual Cortex of Patients with Central Vision Loss: Effects of Long-term Adaptation and Training

中央视力丧失患者视觉皮层神经可塑性的磁共振成像：长期适应和训练的影响

• 批准号: 454765228
• 负责人: Privatdozentin Dr. Tina Plank
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Lehrstuhl für Psychologie I (Allgemeine Psychologie I und Methodenlehre)
• 依托单位国家: 德国
• 项目类别: Research Grants
• 资助国家: 德国
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/454765228?language=en
• 关键词: Magnetic; Resonance; Imaging; Neural; Plasticity

Retinal diseases such as macular degeneration usually lead to central vision loss, making the affected patients dependent on their peripheral residual vision. Often a kind of pseudo fovea (preferred retinal locus, PRL) develops in the peripheral visual field, which is then used in everyday life for the fixation of objects or faces, as well as for reading. These long-term adaptation processes are accompanied by certain neuroplastic changes in the visual cortex of the affected patients. Furthermore, appropriate training protocols, such as visual perceptual learning tasks, can help to further improve peripheral visual performance and even trigger neuronal plasticity. Our goal in this planned project is to investigate how these two neuroplastic processes of long-term adaptation and training act together and to uncover possible interrelations between the two. For this purpose, visual perceptual learning in the peripheral visual field will be applied, and it will be examined to what extent the learning success at the PRL of patients with central vision loss will be different from the learning success at a comparable peripheral site in the opposite visual hemifield (OppPRL) and from the learning success of normally sighted control persons, who are trained in the same visual task. The training measures will be accompanied by (functional) magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to reveal the neural correlates of learning in the visual cortex. Additionally, the biochemical changes caused by learning will be determined by magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS). To investigate possible changes in the cortical macro- and microstructure in grey and white matter of the visual cortex, structural and diffusion-weighted MRI will be performed. These measures will provide us with a more comprehensive picture of long and short term neuroplastic adaptation processes in patients with central vision loss and thus help to design even more efficient training protocols.

黄斑变性等视网膜疾病通常会导致中心性视力丧失，使受影响的患者依赖于他们周围的残余视力。通常，一种假性中心凹(首选视网膜轨迹，PRL)在周围视野中形成，然后在日常生活中被用于注视物体或面部，以及用于阅读。这些长期的适应过程伴随着受影响患者的视觉皮质中的某些神经可塑性变化。此外，适当的训练方案，如视觉知觉学习任务，可以帮助进一步提高周围视觉表现，甚至触发神经元的可塑性。我们在这个计划中的项目中的目标是调查这两个长期适应和训练的神经再生过程是如何共同作用的，并揭示两者之间可能的相互关系。为此，将应用周边视野中的视觉知觉学习，并将检验中央视力丧失患者在PRL处的学习成功与对侧视野中可比的外围部位的学习成功(OppPRL)以及接受相同视觉任务训练的正常视力控制者的学习成功有多大程度的不同。训练措施将伴随着(功能)磁共振成像(FMRI)，以揭示视觉皮质学习的神经关联。此外，学习引起的生化变化将通过磁共振波谱(MRS)来确定。为了研究视觉皮质灰质和白质皮质宏观和微观结构的可能变化，将进行结构和弥散加权磁共振成像。这些措施将为我们提供更全面的中枢性视力丧失患者的长期和短期神经再生适应过程的图景，从而有助于设计更有效的训练方案。