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Published on: August 1, 2018
The intrinsic shape of human and macaque primary visual cortex
Oliver Hinds1, Jonathan R Polimeni, Niranjini Rajendran
1Department of Cognitive and Neural Systems, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215, USA. ohinds@mit.edu
Cerebral Cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991)
|March 1, 2008
Summary
The shape of the primary visual cortex (V1) is surprisingly consistent across individuals and species. This consistency, independent of folding patterns, suggests shared developmental origins for V1 shape.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Comparative Anatomy
- Neuroimaging
Background:
- Previous research indicates significant variability in the shape of the primary visual cortex (V1) in humans and macaques.
- This variability has been attributed to differences in cortical folding patterns.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the intrinsic shape of the primary visual cortex (V1) independent of cortical folding.
- To compare V1 shape between human and macaque species.
Main Methods:
- High-resolution ex vivo 7T MRI was used to image human V1.
- Macaque V1 data were obtained from histological serial sections.
- Manual tracings of the stria of Gennari constructed V1 surfaces, which were computationally flattened to minimize metric distortion.
- Nonparametric boundary matching and elliptical shape modeling were employed to analyze intrinsic V1 geometry.
Main Results:
- The intrinsic shape of human V1 is highly consistent across individuals.
- V1 shape in humans closely resembles that of macaques.
- This similarity is independent of individual cortical folding patterns.
Conclusions:
- The intrinsic shape of the primary visual cortex (V1) is conserved across humans and macaques.
- V1 shape similarity supports predictions from current models of V1 topography.
- Shared developmental mechanisms likely underlie the conserved V1 shape in these species.
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