Topologic Reorganization of White Matter Connectivity Networks in Early-Blind Adolescents.

ABSTRACT: Blindness studies are important models for the comprehension of human brain development and reorganization, after visual deprivation early in life. To investigate the global and local topologic alterations and to identify specific reorganized neural patterns in early-blind adolescents (EBAs), we applied diffusion tensor tractography and graph theory to establish and analyze the white matter connectivity networks in 21 EBAs and 22 age- and sex-matched normal-sighted controls (NSCs). The network profiles were compared between the groups using a linear regression model, and the associations between clinical variables and network profiles were analyzed. Graph theory analysis revealed "small-world" attributes in the structural connection networks of both EBA and NSC cohorts. The EBA cohort exhi

SUBMITTER: Zhou Z 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9072039 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature