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. 2009 Jul 15;46(4):949-57.
doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2009.01.071. Epub 2009 Mar 12.

Pattern of hippocampal shape and volume differences in blind subjects

Natasha Leporé  1 , Yonggang Shi, Franco Lepore, Madeline Fortin, Patrice Voss, Yi-Yu Chou, Catherine Lord, Maryse Lassonde, Ivo D Dinov, Arthur W Toga, Paul M Thompson
Affiliations

Pattern of hippocampal shape and volume differences in blind subjects

Natasha Leporé et al. Neuroimage. .

Abstract

Numerous studies in animals and humans have shown that the hippocampus (HP) is involved in spatial navigation and memory. Blind subjects, in particular, must memorize extensive information to compensate for their lack of immediate updating of spatial information. Increased demands on spatial cognition and memory may be associated with functional and structural HP plasticity. Here we examined local size and shape differences in the HP of blind and sighted individuals. A 3D parametric mesh surface was generated to represent right and left HPs in each individual, based on manual segmentations of 3D volumetric T1-weighted MR images of 22 blind subjects and 28 matched controls. Using a new surface mapping algorithm described in (Shi, Y., Thompson, P.M., de Zubicaray, G.I., Rose, S.E., Tu, Z., Dinov, I., Toga, A.W., Direct mapping of hippocampal surfaces with intrinsic shape context, NeuroImage, Available online May 24, (In Press).), we created an average hippocampal surface for the controls, and computed its normal distance to each individual surface. Statistical maps were created to visualize systematic anatomical differences between groups, and randomization tests were performed to correct for multiple comparisons. In both scaled and unscaled data, the anterior right HP was significantly larger, and the posterior right HP significantly smaller in blind individuals. No significant differences were found for left HP. These differences may reflect adaptive responses to sensory deprivation, and/or increased functional demands on memory systems. They offer a neuroanatomical substrate for future correlations with measures of navigation performance or functional activations related to variations in cognitive strategies.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Average displacement at each vertex from the scaled blind group to the atlas made of an average of the controls. The results are displayed as a colormap on the surface of the atlas, with red representing highly positive displacements and blue highly negative ones. The HP surface is shown from both a top view (top row) and bottom one (bottom row) for the left and right HPs (left and right columns, respectively).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Maps of the uncorrected p -values (logarithmic scale) at each vertex for the scaled HP surfaces, from vertex-wise t-tests between the displacements in the control and blind groups. The colormap is again displayed on the surface of the atlas with the same views as in Figure 1. Here values green and below represent vertices with p - values significant at a level equal or better than p = 0.05.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Average displacement at each vertex from the unscaled blind group to the atlas made of an average of the controls. The results are displayed as a colormap on the surface of the atlas, with red representing highly positive displacements and blue highly negative ones. The HP surface is shown from both a top view (top row) and bottom one (bottom row) for the left and right HPs (left and right columns, respectively).
Figure 4
Figure 4
Maps of the uncorrected p -values (logarithmic scale) at each vertex for the unscaled HP surfaces, from vertex-wise t-tests between the displacements in the control and blind groups. The colormap is again displayed on the surface of the atlas with the same views as in Figure 3. Here values green and below represent vertices with p -values significant at a level equal or better to p = 0.05.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Standard deviation of the displacements from the average control HP atlas to the scaled HPs at each vertex. High standard deviations are shown in red, while low ones are in blue. The views are as in Figure 1–Figure 4.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Significance map for the ratio of variances of the displacements from the average control HP atlas to the scaled HPs at each vertex. Low p -values are shown in red, while high ones are in blue. Left: top view, right: bottom view.
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