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PubMed1982

Pigment mutations associated with altered circadian rhythms in mice.

Mammalian albinism is known to alter neural pathways, reduce retinal pigment, and affect diverse behaviors. Mammalian circadian rhythms have been shown to depend on visual pathways, respond to light intensity and regulate many behaviors. Here we show that mice homozygous for the recessive albino or pinkeye-dilute mutations display shorter circadian rhythms than pigmented controls. We conclude that these pigment loci, or closely linked loci, influence the expression of circadian rhythms in mice.

Animals↗
PubMed2003

Visual dysfunction in artists.

The representation of the world provided by an artist is often modified by abnormalities in the visual pathways. Some artists have used these distortions to create a particular style. Controversy surrounds earlier artists whose visual function was not well documented historically. Drugs and psychiatric disease may also modify the artist's imagery.

Astigmatism↗
PubMed1998

The time course of cortical facilitation during cued shifts of spatial attention.

Adaptive behavior requires the rapid switching of attention among potentially relevant stimuli that appear in the environment. The present study used an electrophysiological approach to continuously measure the time course of visual pathway facilitation in human subjects as attention was shifted from one location to another. Steady-state visual evoked potentials (SSVEPs) were recorded to rapidly flickering lights at attended and unattended locations, and variations in SSVEP amplitude over time were calculated after a cue to shift attention. The build-up of cortical facilitation reflected in SSVEP amplitude was found to bear a close temporal relationship with the emergence of accurate target discriminations at the newly attended location.

Attention↗
PubMed1997

Task difficulty and the specificity of perceptual learning.

Practising simple visual tasks leads to a dramatic improvement in performing them. This learning is specific to the stimuli used for training. We show here that the degree of specificity depends on the difficulty of the training conditions. We find that the pattern of specificities maps onto the pattern of receptive field selectivities along the visual pathway. With easy conditions, learning generalizes across orientation and retinal position, matching the spatial generalization of higher visual areas. As task difficulty increases, learning becomes more specific with respect to both orientation and position, matching the fine spatial retinotopy exhibited by lower areas. Consequently, we enjoy the benefits of learning generalization when possible, and of fine grain but specific training when necessary. The dynamics of learning show a corresponding feature. Improvement begins with easy cases (when the subject is allowed long processing times) and only subsequently proceeds to harder cases. This learning cascade implies that easy conditions guide the learning of hard ones. Taken together, the specificity and dynamics suggest that learning proceeds as a countercurrent along the cortical hierarchy. Improvement begins at higher generalizing levels, which, in turn, direct harder-condition learning to the subdomain of their lower-level inputs. As predicted by this reverse hierarchy model, learning can be effective using only difficult trials, but on condition that learning onset has previously been enabled. A single prolonged presentation suffices to initiate learning. We call this single-encounter enabling effect 'eureka'.

Humans↗
PubMed1998

[Objective assessment of visual field defects using multifocal electroretinography].

BACKGROUND: Multifocal electroretinography allows simultaneous recording of 61 focal electroretinographic signals from the retina of the posterior pole. The function of the outer retinal layers can be mapped for a visual field of 30.5 degrees radius. We herein describe the topography of such potentials in patients with hemianopic and concentric visual field defects. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Six patients with visual field defects caused by chorioretinal and central visual pathways diseases were examined using multifocal ERG. RESULTS: In 30 normal volunteers in the entire 30 degrees visual field clear signals were obtained. In the patients with visual field defects caused by retinal diseases in areas with reduced light sensitivity diminished electroretinographical activity was found. In contrast, in patients with bitemporal hemianopsia due to a chiasmal lesion no correlation between visual field and magnitude of focal ERGs was seen. CONCLUSIONS: In retinal disorders defects in multifocal ERG presented the similar pattern as scotomata in perimetry. The patient with visual field defects due to disturbances in the chiasma exhibited a normal ERG-topography. In patients with visual field defects multifocal ERG supported differentiation of the location of the lesion.

Adult↗
PubMed1987

[Optic nerve neuropathy following a lightning accident--electrophysiologic and computerized tomography findings].

A case is described in which the patient had been struck by lightning, with involvement of one eye and the visual pathways. Ophthalmological examination revealed a posterior capsule cataract in the right eye and peripheral constriction of the visual field of the left eye, although central vision in the left eye was not affected. The peak latency of the pattern reversal-evoked potentials in the left eye was longer and their amplitude lower. The skin ERG was normal. The CT scan revealed a thickening of the left optic nerve. The importance of electrophysiological and CT scan examination in the diagnosis and etiology of abnormalities caused in the eye by lightning is emphasized.

Adult↗
PubMed2001

Postoperative changes in visual evoked potentials and cognitive function tests following sevoflurane anaesthesia.

We tested the hypothesis that minor disturbance of the visual pathway persists following general anaesthesia even when clinical discharge criteria are met. To test this, we measured visual evoked potentials (VEPs) in 13 ASA I or II patients who did not receive any pre-anaesthetic medication and underwent sevoflurane anaesthesia. VEPs were recorded on four occasions, before anaesthesia and at 30, 60, and 90 min after emergence from anaesthesia. Patients completed visual analogue scales (VAS) for sedation and anxiety, a Trieger Dot Test (TDT) and a Digit Symbol Substitution Test (DSST) immediately before each VEP recording. These results were compared using Student's t-test. P<0.05 was considered significant. VEP latency was prolonged (P<0.001) and amplitude diminished (P<0.05) at 30, 60, and 90 min after emergence from anaesthesia, when VAS scores for sedation and anxiety, TDT, and DSST had returned to pre-anaesthetic levels.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2002

Spatial analysis of ocular dominance patterns in monocularly deprived cats.

Monocular deprivation during a critical period in postnatal development leads to a shift in functional and anatomical ocular dominance at the expense of the deprived eye. We analyzed the complete two-dimensional pattern of [(3)H]proline-labeled afferents in primary visual cortex (area 17) of cats monocularly deprived of vision at eye opening. Substantial shrinkage of deprived eye territory in favor of the normal eye extended into optic disc and monocular segment representations. However, small domains of deprived eye afferents were distributed evenly over the entire visual field representation. Interestingly, normal and deprived eye afferents overlapped extensively in the ipsilateral and in the peripheral contralateral visual field representation of the deprived eye, so that ipsi- and contralateral ocular dominance patterns are not at all complementary. We suggest that this could be the result of both an earlier maturation of crossed versus uncrossed visual pathways and of a maturational gradient within area 17 leading to a lower vulnerability of the central visual field representation to monocular deprivation. Quantitative analysis, using a triangulation algorithm which confirmed previously described larger spacing of adjacent ocular dominance columns in strabismic cats, revealed no difference in spacing of ocular dominance domains in area 17 between monocularly deprived and normals cats. In addition, column spacing was very similar in the same animal and in littermates, indicating that the genetic influence on columnar layout is stronger than previously assumed.

Age Factors↗
PubMed2005

Dopaminergic control of local interneuron activity in the thalamus.

The dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus (dLGN), the major thalamic station of the visual pathway, contains a fairly large number of dopaminergic terminals, and dopamine was found to reduce spontaneous and visually evoked activity in the dLGN in vivo. The cellular basis of this influence remained unknown. Here we have used whole cell patch-clamp techniques to analyse the effects of dopamine (DA) on GABAergic transmission in dLGN slices of juvenile postnatal day (P) 12-P24 Long-Evans rats or juvenile (P12-P22) GAD67-GFP (Deltaneo) mice. Spontaneous inhibitory postsynaptic currents (sIPSCs) were increased in frequency by the D(2)-like agonist quinpirole (QUIN) in rat (n = 6), as well as in mouse (n = 5) thalamic slices. This effect was blocked in the presence of the D(2)-like antagonist sulpiride (SULP, n = 5) and was absent in the ventrobasal complex (VB) of rat (n = 7) and mouse (n = 4) thalamus, which is devoid of GABAergic interneurons. Direct recordings from labelled GABAergic neurons in the dLGN of GAD67-GFP mice revealed a QUIN-mediated membrane depolarization (n = 12), which was attenuated by SULP (n = 6). These data demonstrate that DA through activation of D(2)-like receptors in GABAergic interneurons induces an increase in inhibitory interactions most likely at F2 dendrodendritic terminals, thereby providing a cellular correlate of the observation made in vivo that DA predominantly acts through inhibition of relay cell activity in the dLGN.

Animals↗
PubMed2000

Selectivity for the shape, size, and orientation of objects for grasping in neurons of monkey parietal area AIP.

In this study, we mainly investigated the visual selectivity of hand-manipulation-related neurons in the anterior intraparietal area (area AIP) while the animal was grasping or fixating on three-dimensional (3D) objects of different geometric shapes, sizes, and orientations. We studied the activity of 132 task-related neurons during the hand-manipulation tasks in the light and in the dark, as well as during object fixation. Seventy-seven percent (101/132) of the hand-manipulation-related neurons were visually responsive, showing either lesser activity during manipulation in the dark than during that in the light (visual-motor neurons) or no activation in the dark (visual-dominant neurons). Of these visually responsive neurons, more than half (n = 66) responded during the object-fixation task (object-type). Among these, 55 were tested for their shape selectivity during the object-fixation task, and many (n = 25) were highly selective, preferring one particular shape of the six different shapes presented (ring, cube, cylinder, cone, sphere, and square plate). For 28 moderately selective object-type neurons, we performed multidimensional scaling (MDS) to examine how the neurons encode the similarity of objects. The results suggest that some moderately selective neurons responded preferentially to common geometric features shared by similar objects (flat, round, elongated, etc.). Moderately selective nonobject-type visually responsive neurons, which did not respond during object fixation, were found by MDS to be more closely related to the handgrip than to the object shape. We found a similar selectivity for handgrip in motor-dominant neurons that did not show any visual response. With regard to the size of the objects, 16 of 26 object-type neurons tested were selective for both size and shape, whereas 9 object-type neurons were selective for shape but not for size. Seven of 12 nonobject-type and all (8/8) of the motor-dominant neurons examined were selective for size, and almost all of them were also selective for objects. Many hand-manipulation-related neurons that preferred the plate and/or ring were selective for the orientation of the objects (17/20). These results suggest that the visual responses of object-type neurons represent the shape, size, and/or orientation of 3D objects, whereas those of the nonobject-type neurons probably represent the shape of the handgrip, grip size, or hand-orientation. The activity of motor-dominant neurons was also, in part, likely to represent these parameters of hand movement. This suggests that the dorsal visual pathway is concerned with the aspect of form, orientation, and/or size perception that is relevant for the visual control of movements.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Experimental studies of the role of the adrenergic system in the development of bioelectric response of the retina and visual cortex. II. Methodology and characteristics of the ERG and VEP recording].

The author presents the method of performing computerized electroretinographic and visual evoked potentials in rabbits. Detailed characteristics of normal ERG and VEP records are presented. Discussed is the structure of the retina and of the visual pathways in the rabbit as well as the provenance of the particular peaks of the electroretinogram and visual evoked potential records.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

VER in optic neuritis.

A prospective study was carried out on 27 patients with optic neuritis. Besides detailed clinical examination, visual evoked responses (VER) were studied utilising the checker board pattern reversal and flash stimuli. The recording with the 30 minute check size was found to be the most consistent both for the controls and the patients. Flash evoked VER was most useful in determining the wave form in cases with severe disruption of the visual pathways. Neither the implicit time nor the amplitude of the VER could be directly correlated to the visual acuity changes or other clinical parameters. Implicit time offered a more reliable criterion for evaluation as compared to the amplitude in patients with optic neuritis. The VER recording helps in serial follow-up of a patient and can indicate previous attacks suffered by the patient.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1989

Psychophysics and visual aging.

Visual psychophysics represent an invaluable way of studying the visual system aging process. First of all, the author considers the modifications induced by aging on the optic characteristics of the human eye. Subsequently, he outlines the specific reduction of visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, flicker fusion and color vision caused by optic nerve and visual pathway aging. He points to the role and importance of psychophysic investigations in the accurate definition of visual system aging.

Aging↗
PubMed1995

Topographic reorganization in the striate cortex of the adult cat and monkey is cortically mediated.

In primary sensory and motor cortex of adult animals, alteration of input from the periphery leads to changes in cortical topography. These changes can be attributed to processes that are intrinsic to the cortex, or can be inherited from alterations occurring at stages of sensory processing that are antecedent to the primary sensory cortical areas. In the visual system, focal binocular retinal lesions initially silence an area of cortex that represents the region of retina destroyed, but over a period of months this area recovers visually driven activity. The retinotopic map in the recovered area is altered, shifting its representation to the portion of retina immediately surrounding the lesion. This effectively shrinks the representation of the lesioned area of retina, and expands the representation of the lesion surround. To determine the loci along the visual pathway at which the reorganization takes place, we compared the course of topographic alterations in the primary visual cortex and dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) of cats and monkeys. At a time when the cortical reorganization is complete, the silent area of LGN persists, indicating that changes in cortical topography are due to alterations that are intrinsic to the cortex. To explore the participation of thalamocortical afferents in the reorganization, we injected a series of retrogradely transported fluorescent tracers into reorganized and surrounding cortex of each animal. Our results show that the thalamocortical arbors do not extend beyond their normal lateral territory and that this physical dimension is insufficient to account for the reorganization. We suggest that the long-range intrinsic horizontal connections are a likely source of visual input into the reorganized cortical area.

Animals↗
PubMed2004

Visual electrophysiological screening in diagnosing infants with congenital nystagmus.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the value of visual electrophysiological screening in evaluating retinal and postretinal visual pathway function in infants with congenital nystagmus. METHODS: In 28 infants with congenital nystagmus electroretinogram (ERG) was recorded with skin electrodes and, since the infants were alert, visual evoked potentials (VEP) were simultaneously recorded. The first recording was performed before the age of 1 year (age 2-11 months, mean age 6.8 months). Follow-up was performed between the ages of 7 months and 6 years (mean age 2.7 years). ERG was detected to flash stimulus and VEP to flash and/or pattern-reversal stimulus. RESULTS: In infants less than 1 year of age, retinal dysfunction was recognised in 36% of infants who had been diagnosed as Leber's congenital amaurosis, achromatopsia and retinal dystrophy; postretinal dysfunction was recognised in 32% of infants who had been diagnosed with ocular albinism, optic nerve hypoplasia and neurological nystagmus; retinal or postretinal function was normal in 7% of infants that had been diagnosed as congenital idiopathic nystagmus, while retinal function was normal and postretinal function was undefined in 25% of infants that had been diagnosed as optic nerve hypoplasia, neurological nystagmus and congenital idiopathic nystagmus. At follow-up the findings were: retinal dysfunction in 36%, postretinal dysfunction in 50% and normal retinal and postretinal function in 14% of children. All those children with normal retinal and postretinal function had been diagnosed as congenital idiopathic nystagmus. CONCLUSIONS: Visual electrophysiological screening of infants with congenital nystagmus can establish or exclude retinal and postretinal pathway dysfunction. Therefore simultaneous skin ERG and VEP which is a non-invasive approach for infants enables an objective means for identifying the basis of congenital nystagmus, thereby assisting in its classification.

Child↗
PubMed1985

Invariance of retinal output during visual learning.

Visually conditioned heart-rate change in the pigeon has been developed as a vertebrate model system for the cellular analysis of associative learning. This development included identifying the visual pathways that transmit the conditioned stimulus information. That, in turn, established a foundation for neurophysiological analyses during conditioning to determine whether these pathways behave merely as input lines or undergo training-induced modification. We began this analysis at the visual periphery, the retina. By recording the activity of single optic tract fibers over the acquisition of the conditioned response it was demonstrated that neither the maintained nor CS-evoked activity of retinal ganglion cells are modified during non-associative or associative paradigms. Thus, the data (a) describe the temporal properties of the CS-evoked retinal response, (b) exclude various possibilities that might have modified this response during learning, and (c) establish a firm foundation for cellular neurophysiological analysis of central visual structures involved in transmitting the CS information.

Animals↗
PubMed1987

Normal temporal variability of the P100.

Determination of clinically significant temporal changes in P100 latency requires knowledge of the degree of normal intraindividual variability. Checkerboard visual evoked potentials using 3 check sizes (17', 35' and 70') were performed serially on 20 healthy volunteers. Each subject was tested at least twice an average of 6 months apart. The P100 latency was measured at Oz with a forehead reference (Pz, O1 and O2 channels were also recorded). The overall average P100 latency change between studies for all check sizes and both eyes was 2.9 msec. However, the maximum absolute latency change was 11 msec. There was no significant difference between the average latency change for the 3 check sizes. The P100 interocular difference changed a mean of 2.5 msec (maximum 9 msec). Amplitude was more variable, with a mean change of about 1.5 microV or 25% (maximum was a 60% decrease in amplitude). A P100 latency change of up to at least 11 msec needs to be acknowledged as normal when assessing the clinical significance of changes in P100 latencies in patients. Also, P100 latency changes greater than 11 or 12 msec are very suggestive of an abnormality in the visual pathway.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

Cortical blindness and Anton syndrome in a patient with obstetric hemorrhage.

BACKGROUND: Cortical blindness is characterized by loss of vision in the presence of intact anterior visual pathways. Anton syndrome, a form of anosognosia, is a rare complication of cortical blindness involving compromise of the visual association centers, with resulting patient denial of blindness. Both syndromes have been associated with computed tomography findings of localized cortical ischemia. In most cases, both the clinical and radiologic features are reversible. CASE: A woman with hemorrhage from an incomplete abortion at 21 weeks experienced cortical blindness and visual anosognosia. CONCLUSION: Cortical blindness and anosognosia are unusual manifestations of severe hemorrhage but should be considered in the differential diagnosis of a patient with atypical visual symptoms.

Abortion, Incomplete↗

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