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Tipado Z, Kuypers KPC, Sorger B, Ramaekers JG. Visual hallucinations originating in the retinofugal pathway under clinical and psychedelic conditions. Eur Neuropsychopharmacol 2024; 85:10-20. [PMID: 38648694 DOI: 10.1016/j.euroneuro.2024.04.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/11/2023] [Revised: 04/11/2024] [Accepted: 04/13/2024] [Indexed: 04/25/2024]
Abstract
Psychedelics like LSD (Lysergic acid diethylamide) and psilocybin are known to modulate perceptual modalities due to the activation of mostly serotonin receptors in specific cortical (e.g., visual cortex) and subcortical (e.g., thalamus) regions of the brain. In the visual domain, these psychedelic modulations often result in peculiar disturbances of viewed objects and light and sometimes even in hallucinations of non-existent environments, objects, and creatures. Although the underlying processes are poorly understood, research conducted over the past twenty years on the subjective experience of psychedelics details theories that attempt to explain these perceptual alterations due to a disruption of communication between cortical and subcortical regions. However, rare medical conditions in the visual system like Charles Bonnet syndrome that cause perceptual distortions may shed new light on the additional importance of the retinofugal pathway in psychedelic subjective experiences. Interneurons in the retina called amacrine cells could be the first site of visual psychedelic modulation and aid in disrupting the hierarchical structure of how humans perceive visual information. This paper presents an understanding of how the retinofugal pathway communicates and modulates visual information in psychedelic and clinical conditions. Therefore, we elucidate a new theory of psychedelic modulation in the retinofugal pathway.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zeus Tipado
- Department of Neuropsychology and Psychopharmacology, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, the Netherlands; Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, the Netherlands.
| | - Kim P C Kuypers
- Department of Neuropsychology and Psychopharmacology, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, the Netherlands
| | - Bettina Sorger
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, the Netherlands
| | - Johannes G Ramaekers
- Department of Neuropsychology and Psychopharmacology, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, the Netherlands
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Williams JC, Tubiolo PN, Zheng ZJ, Silver-Frankel EB, Pham DT, Haubold NK, Abeykoon SK, Abi-Dargham A, Horga G, Van Snellenberg JX. Functional Localization of the Human Auditory and Visual Thalamus Using a Thalamic Localizer Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Task. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.04.28.591516. [PMID: 38746171 PMCID: PMC11092475 DOI: 10.1101/2024.04.28.591516] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/16/2024]
Abstract
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) of the auditory and visual sensory systems of the human brain is an active area of investigation in the study of human health and disease. The medial geniculate nucleus (MGN) and lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) are key thalamic nuclei involved in the processing and relay of auditory and visual information, respectively, and are the subject of blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) fMRI studies of neural activation and functional connectivity in human participants. However, localization of BOLD fMRI signal originating from neural activity in MGN and LGN remains a technical challenge, due in part to the poor definition of boundaries of these thalamic nuclei in standard T1-weighted and T2-weighted magnetic resonance imaging sequences. Here, we report the development and evaluation of an auditory and visual sensory thalamic localizer (TL) fMRI task that produces participant-specific functionally-defined regions of interest (fROIs) of both MGN and LGN, using 3 Tesla multiband fMRI and a clustered-sparse temporal acquisition sequence, in less than 16 minutes of scan time. We demonstrate the use of MGN and LGN fROIs obtained from the TL fMRI task in standard resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) fMRI analyses in the same participants. In RSFC analyses, we validated the specificity of MGN and LGN fROIs for signals obtained from primary auditory and visual cortex, respectively, and benchmark their performance against alternative atlas- and segmentation-based localization methods. The TL fMRI task and analysis code (written in Presentation and MATLAB, respectively) have been made freely available to the wider research community.
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Beyh A, Rasche SE, Leff A, Ffytche D, Zeki S. Neural patterns of conscious visual awareness in the Riddoch syndrome. J Neurol 2023; 270:5360-5371. [PMID: 37429978 PMCID: PMC10576735 DOI: 10.1007/s00415-023-11861-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/12/2023] [Revised: 06/30/2023] [Accepted: 06/30/2023] [Indexed: 07/12/2023]
Abstract
The Riddoch syndrome is one in which patients blinded by lesions to their primary visual cortex can consciously perceive visual motion in their blind field, an ability that correlates with activity in motion area V5. Our assessment of the characteristics of this syndrome in patient ST, using multimodal MRI, showed that: 1. ST's V5 is intact, receives direct subcortical input, and decodable neural patterns emerge in it only during the conscious perception of visual motion; 2. moving stimuli activate medial visual areas but, unless associated with decodable V5 activity, they remain unperceived; 3. ST's high confidence ratings when discriminating motion at chance levels, is associated with inferior frontal gyrus activity. Finally, we report that ST's Riddoch Syndrome results in hallucinatory motion with hippocampal activity as a correlate. Our results shed new light on perceptual experiences associated with this syndrome and on the neural determinants of conscious visual experience.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ahmad Beyh
- Laboratory of Neurobiology, Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University College London, London, UK
| | - Samuel E Rasche
- Laboratory of Neurobiology, Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University College London, London, UK
| | - Alexander Leff
- UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, UK
| | - Dominic Ffytche
- Department of Old Age Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Semir Zeki
- Laboratory of Neurobiology, Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University College London, London, UK.
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Srichawla BS, Catton RM, Lichtenberg AA, Henninger N. Clinical characteristics and risk factors for bilateral lateral geniculate body pathology: a systematic review of the literature. Neurol Sci 2023; 44:3481-3493. [PMID: 37086352 DOI: 10.1007/s10072-023-06818-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/14/2023] [Accepted: 04/14/2023] [Indexed: 04/23/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Case presentation of acute onset bilateral painless vision loss caused by bilateral infarction of the lateral geniculate bodies (LGB) and a systematic review of the literature. METHODS A descriptive case report is presented on a 17-year-old female diagnosed with acute pancreatitis who developed acute onset bilateral painless vision loss. A systematic literature review of cases with bilateral LGB lesions was conducted across three electronic databases (PubMed/PubMed Central/MEDLINE, Scopus, and ScienceDirect). The review was conducted in concordance with PRISMA guidelines and prospectively registered on PROSPERO (CRD42022362491). RESULTS The reported 17-year-old female was found to have MRI findings consistent with bilateral hemorrhagic infarction of the LGB and Purtscher-like retinopathy. A systematic literature review of bilateral LGB infarction yielded 23 records for analysis. 19/23 (82.6%) of reported cases occurred in women. Bilateral vision loss was noted in all cases. The average reported age was 27 years old with a range from 2-50. Gastrointestinal pathology (e.g., pancreatitis, gastroenteritis) was present in 8/23 (34.7%) of cases. 8/23 (34.7%) cases had neuroimaging or pathological evidence of hemorrhagic transformation of the infarct. Most cases experienced partial recovery of visual loss; only one case (4.7%) had complete visual recovery. 9/23 (39.1%) cases were reported from the United States and 4/23 (17.3%) from India. CONCLUSIONS Bilateral LGB lesion is a rare cause of vision loss, typically caused by systemic diseases and with female preponderance. Purported pathophysiology relates to increased vulnerability of the LGB to ischemic and metabolic stress.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bahadar S Srichawla
- Department of Neurology, University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, 55 Lake Ave N, Worcester, MA, 01655, U.S.A..
| | - Raymond M Catton
- Department of Neurology, University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, 55 Lake Ave N, Worcester, MA, 01655, U.S.A
| | - Alexander A Lichtenberg
- Department of Neurology, University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, 55 Lake Ave N, Worcester, MA, 01655, U.S.A
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, 55 Lake Ave N, Worcester, MA, 01655, U.S.A
| | - Nils Henninger
- Department of Neurology, University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, 55 Lake Ave N, Worcester, MA, 01655, U.S.A
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, 55 Lake Ave N, Worcester, MA, 01655, U.S.A
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Oishi H, Takemura H, Amano K. Macromolecular tissue volume mapping of lateral geniculate nucleus subdivisions in living human brains. Neuroimage 2023; 265:119777. [PMID: 36462730 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2022.119777] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/08/2022] [Revised: 11/26/2022] [Accepted: 11/29/2022] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
The lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) is a key thalamic nucleus in the visual system, which has an important function in relaying retinal visual input to the visual cortex. The human LGN is composed mainly of magnocellular (M) and parvocellular (P) subdivisions, each of which has different stimulus selectivity in neural response properties. Previous studies have discussed the potential relationship between LGN subdivisions and visual disorders based on psychophysical data on specific types of visual stimuli. However, these relationships remain speculative because non-invasive measurements of these subdivisions are difficult due to the small size of the LGN. Here we propose a method to identify these subdivisions by combining two structural MR measures: high-resolution proton-density weighted images and macromolecular tissue volume (MTV) maps. We defined the M and P subdivisions based on MTV fraction data and tested the validity of the definition by (1) comparing the data with that from human histological studies, (2) comparing the data with functional magnetic resonance imaging measurements on stimulus selectivity, and (3) analyzing the test-retest reliability. The findings demonstrated that the spatial organization of the M and P subdivisions was consistent across subjects and in line with LGN subdivisions observed in human histological data. Moreover, the difference in stimulus selectivity between the subdivisions identified using MTV was consistent with previous physiology literature. The definition of the subdivisions based on MTV was shown to be robust over measurements taken on different days. These results suggest that MTV mapping is a promising approach for evaluating the tissue properties of LGN subdivisions in living humans. This method potentially will enable neuroscientific and clinical hypotheses about the human LGN subdivisions to be tested.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hiroki Oishi
- Center for Information and Neural Networks (CiNet), Advanced ICT Research Institute, National Institute of Information and Communications Technology, Suita 565-0871, Japan; Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences, Osaka University, Suita 565-0871, Japan; Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94704, United States.
| | - Hiromasa Takemura
- Center for Information and Neural Networks (CiNet), Advanced ICT Research Institute, National Institute of Information and Communications Technology, Suita 565-0871, Japan; Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences, Osaka University, Suita 565-0871, Japan; Division of Sensory and Cognitive Brain Mapping, Department of System Neuroscience, National Institute for Physiological Sciences, Okazaki 444-8585, Japan; Department of Physiological Sciences, School of Life Science, SOKENDAI (The Graduate University for Advanced Studies), Hayama 240-0193, Japan.
| | - Kaoru Amano
- Center for Information and Neural Networks (CiNet), Advanced ICT Research Institute, National Institute of Information and Communications Technology, Suita 565-0871, Japan; Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences, Osaka University, Suita 565-0871, Japan; Graduate School of Information Science and Technology, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan
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Ashtari M, Lipin M, Duong M, Ying GS, Yu Y, Maguire A, Bennett J. Neuroplasticity of the Lateral Geniculate Nucleus in Response to Retinal Gene Therapy in a Group of Patients with RPE65 Mutations. Eye Brain 2022; 14:137-147. [PMID: 36531433 PMCID: PMC9749418 DOI: 10.2147/eb.s377275] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/08/2022] [Accepted: 11/15/2022] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Introduction Previous works on experience-dependent brain plasticity have been limited to the cortical structures, overlooking subcortical visual structures such as the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN). Animal studies have shown substantial experience dependent plasticity and using fMRI, human studies have demonstrated similar properties in patients with cataract surgery. However, in neither animal nor human studies LGN has not been directly assessed, mainly due to its small size, tissue heterogeneity, low contrast/noise ratio, and low spatial resolution. Methods Utilizing a new algorithm that markedly improves the LGN visibility, LGN was evaluated in a group of low vision patients before and after retinal intervention to reinstate vision and normal sighted matched controls. Results Between and within groups comparisons showed that patients had significantly smaller left (p< 0.0001) and right (p < 0.00002) LGN volumes at baseline as compared to the one-year follow-up volumes. The same baseline and one year comparison in controls was not significant. Significant positive correlations were observed between the incremental volume increase after gene therapy of the left LGN and the incremental increase in the right (r = 0.71, p < 0.02) and left (r = 0.72, p = 0.018) visual fields. Incremental volume increase of the right LGN also showed a similar positive slope but did not reach significance. Discussion These results show that despite significantly less volume at baseline, retinal gene therapy promotes robust expansion and increase in LGN volume. Reinstating vision may have facilitated the establishment of new connections between the retina and the LGN and/or unmasking of the dormant connections. The exact trajectory of the structural changes taking place in LGN is unclear but our data shows that even after years of low vision, the LGN in RPE65 patients has the potential for plasticity and expansion to a nearly normal volume one year after gene therapy administration.
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Kurzawski JW, Lunghi C, Biagi L, Tosetti M, Morrone MC, Binda P. Short-term plasticity in the human visual thalamus. eLife 2022; 11:74565. [PMID: 35384840 PMCID: PMC9020816 DOI: 10.7554/elife.74565] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/13/2021] [Accepted: 04/05/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
While there is evidence that the visual cortex retains a potential for plasticity in adulthood, less is known about the subcortical stages of visual processing. Here we asked whether short-term ocular dominance plasticity affects the human visual thalamus. We addressed this question in normally sighted adult humans, using ultra-high field (7T) magnetic resonance imaging combined with the paradigm of short-term monocular deprivation. With this approach, we previously demonstrated transient shifts of perceptual eye dominance and ocular dominance in visual cortex (Binda et al., 2018). Here we report evidence for short-term plasticity in the ventral division of the pulvinar (vPulv), where the deprived eye representation was enhanced over the non-deprived eye. This ventral-pulvinar plasticity was similar as previously seen in visual cortex and it was correlated with the ocular dominance shift measured behaviorally. In contrast, there was no effect of monocular deprivation in two adjacent thalamic regions: dorsal pulvinar (dPulv), and Lateral Geniculate Nucleus (LGN). We conclude that the visual thalamus retains potential for short-term plasticity in adulthood; the plasticity effect differs across thalamic subregions, possibly reflecting differences in their cortico-fugal connectivity.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Claudia Lunghi
- Department of Translational Research and New Technologies in Medicine and Surgery, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy
| | | | | | - Maria Concetta Morrone
- Department of Translational Research and New Technologies in Medicine and Surgery, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy
| | - Paola Binda
- Department of Translational Research on New Technologies in Medicine and Surgery, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy
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Lipin M, Bennett J, Ying GS, Yu Y, Ashtari M. Improving the Quantification of the Lateral Geniculate Nucleus in Magnetic Resonance Imaging Using a Novel 3D-Edge Enhancement Technique. Front Comput Neurosci 2021; 15:708866. [PMID: 34924983 PMCID: PMC8677828 DOI: 10.3389/fncom.2021.708866] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/12/2021] [Accepted: 11/02/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) is a small, inhomogeneous structure that relays major sensory inputs from the retina to the visual cortex. LGN morphology has been intensively studied due to various retinal diseases, as well as in the context of normal brain development. However, many of the methods used for LGN structural evaluations have not adequately addressed the challenges presented by the suboptimal routine MRI imaging of this structure. Here, we propose a novel method of edge enhancement that allows for high reliability and accuracy with regard to LGN morphometry, using routine 3D-MRI imaging protocols. This new algorithm is based on modeling a small brain structure as a polyhedron with its faces, edges, and vertices fitted with one plane, the intersection of two planes, and the intersection of three planes, respectively. This algorithm dramatically increases the contrast-to-noise ratio between the LGN and its surrounding structures as well as doubling the original spatial resolution. To show the algorithm efficacy, two raters (MA and ML) measured LGN volumes bilaterally in 19 subjects using the edge-enhanced LGN extracted areas from the 3D-T1 weighted images. The averages of the left and right LGN volumes from the two raters were 175 ± 8 and 174 ± 9 mm3, respectively. The intra-class correlations between raters were 0.74 for the left and 0.81 for the right LGN volumes. The high contrast edge-enhanced LGN images presented here, from a 7-min routine 3T-MRI acquisition, is qualitatively comparable to previously reported LGN images that were acquired using a proton density sequence with 30–40 averages and 1.5-h of acquisition time. The proposed edge-enhancement algorithm is not limited only to the LGN, but can significantly improve the contrast-to-noise ratio of any small deep-seated gray matter brain structure that is prone to high-levels of noise and partial volume effects, and can also increase their morphometric accuracy and reliability. An immensely useful feature of the proposed algorithm is that it can be used retrospectively on noisy and low contrast 3D brain images previously acquired as part of any routine clinical MRI visit.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mikhail Lipin
- Department of Ophthalmology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States
| | - Jean Bennett
- Department of Ophthalmology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States
| | - Gui-Shuang Ying
- Center for Preventative Ophthalmology and Biostatistics, Department of Ophthalmology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States
| | - Yinxi Yu
- Center for Preventative Ophthalmology and Biostatistics, Department of Ophthalmology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States
| | - Manzar Ashtari
- Department of Ophthalmology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States
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