Structural-physiological relationships in the visual system upon glutamate excitotoxicity in the eye using diffusion tensor imaging and manganese-enhanced MRI

Abstract

Excitotoxicity has been linked to the pathogenesis of ocular diseases and injuries and may involve early degeneration of both anterior and posterior visual pathways. To date, the spatiotemporal patterns of neurodegeneration in the visual system and the relationships with excitotoxic retinal injury and optic neuropathy are not fully elucidated. In this study, we employed DTI and MEMRI to study the microstructural alterations, anterograde Mn transport and their correlations along the visual pathway upon N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA)-induced glutamate excitotoxicity in the eye, in order to determine the pathophysiological events and structural-physiological relationships in the injured visual pathways.