Schumacher Eric H, Jacko Julie A, Primo Susan A, Main Keith L, Moloney Kevin P, Kinzel Erin N, Ginn Jimmy
School of Psychology, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332, USA.
Restor Neurol Neurosci. 2008;26(4-5):391-402.
Neural evidence exists for cortical reorganization in human visual cortex in response to retinal disease. Macular degeneration (MD) causes the progressive loss of central visual acuity. To cope with this, MD patients often adopt a preferred retinal location (PRL, i.e., a functional retinal area in their periphery used to fixate instead of the damaged fovea). The use of a PRL may foster cortical reorganization.
We used fMRI to measure brain activity in calcarine sulcus while visually stimulating peripheral visual regions in MD patients and age-matched control participants.
We found that visual stimulation of the PRL in MD patients increased brain activity in cortex normally representing central vision relative to visual stimulation of a peripheral region outside the patients' PRL and relative to stimulation in the periphery of age-matched control participants.
These data directly link cortical reorganization in MD to behavioral adaptations adopted by MD patients. These results not only confirm that large-scale cortical reorganization of visual processing occurs in humans in response to retinal disease, but also relate this reorganization to functional changes in patient behavior.
有神经学证据表明，人类视觉皮层会因视网膜疾病而发生重组。黄斑变性（MD）会导致中心视力逐渐丧失。为应对这一情况，MD患者常采用 Preferred Retinal Location（PRL，即他们周边的一个功能性视网膜区域，用于注视而非受损的中央凹）。使用PRL可能会促进皮层重组。
我们利用功能磁共振成像（fMRI）测量MD患者和年龄匹配的对照参与者在视觉刺激周边视觉区域时距状沟的脑活动。
我们发现，相对于对患者PRL之外的周边区域进行视觉刺激以及相对于对年龄匹配的对照参与者周边区域进行刺激，对MD患者的PRL进行视觉刺激会增加通常代表中心视力的皮层脑活动。
这些数据直接将MD中的皮层重组与MD患者所采取的行为适应联系起来。这些结果不仅证实了人类视觉处理的大规模皮层重组会因视网膜疾病而发生，还将这种重组与患者行为的功能变化联系起来。
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