Sight restoration reverses blindness-induced cross-modal functional connectivity changes between the visual and somatosensory cortex at rest.

ABSTRACT: Resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) has been used to assess the effect of vision loss on brain plasticity. With the emergence of vision restoration therapies, rsFC analysis provides a means to assess the functional changes following sight restoration. Our study demonstrates a partial reversal of blindness-induced rsFC changes in Argus II retinal prosthesis patients compared to those with severe retinitis pigmentosa (RP). For 10 healthy control (HC), 10 RP, and 7 Argus II subjects, four runs of resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) per subject were included in our study. rsFC maps were created with the primary visual cortex (V1) as the seed. The rsFC group contrast maps for RP > HC, Argus II > RP, and Argus II > HC revealed regions in the post-central gyrus (Po

SUBMITTER: Nadvar N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9539921 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature