Mc. Brodsky et al., MAGNETIC-RESONANCE-IMAGING OF THE VISUAL PATHWAYS IN HUMAN ALBINOS, Journal of pediatric ophthalmology and strabismus, 30(6), 1993, pp. 382-385
Neuroanatomical and electrophysiological studies of albino visual path
ways have demonstrated that retinogeniculate axons arising from the te
mporal retina decussate abnormally in the optic chiasm to synapse in t
he contralateral lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN). Anomalies in the LG
N secondarily disrupt normal geniculo-cortical and interhemispheric co
rtico-cortical (callosal) visual connections. It is not known whether
retinogeniculate misrouting affects the size or configuration of the a
fferent visual pathways in human albinos. We used T1-weighted coronal
and sagittal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to examine the prechiasm
atic intracranial optic nerves, optic chiasm, and corpus callosum in 1
0 human albinos. In all subjects, these structures were normal in size
and configuration. Despite the complex cascade of aberrant central ne
uronal connections, the human albino visual pathways and their inter-h
emispheric connections appear normal in size and configuration when vi
ewed with MRI.