This research project aims to better understand how the brain responds to common eye diseases such as age-related macular degeneration and glaucoma. Previous research has found that altered visual inputs can lead to both neuroplasticity and transneuronal degeneration. It is unclear to what extend these processes vary across individuals and brain structures. Answering this question is important because individual differences in neuroplasticity and transneuronal degeneration can impact visual functioning in daily life and potential routes for treatment and rehabilitation. In this project we will compare visual brain structure and function in ophthalmological patients against normative ranges derived from healthy individuals. This will allow us to derive individualised markers of neural plasticity and degeration in terms of quantifiable deviations from the norm and study the deviation patterns. We will focus on phenotypes that can be derived from the UK Biobank brain imaging data. For instance, we will use the available T1-, diffusion and susceptibility-weighted MRI data to estimate gray- and white-matter properties, as well as iron deposition, alterations of which have previously been linked to neural degenation. We will also assess visual brain function through the analysis of the available resting-state functional MRI data. These functional measures are likely more sensitive to neuroplasticity. Brain structures of interest comprise the visual system, including the retinothalamic and thalamocortical visual white matter tracts, visual cortical areas and the connectivity between them, and the connectivity between the visual cortical areas and cortical areas related to sensory-motor functioning and attention. To ensure rigorous sample selection and patient characterisations, we will also analyse health and retinal imaging data.
