Microstructural Alterations in Grey and White Matter Following Early-Onset Deafness in the Cat
Abstract
Following sensory deprivation such as deafness, compensatory plasticity underlies the reorganization of sensory-specific brain areas to process remaining intact modalities. Previous studies have explored microstructural consequences throughout the brain following auditory deprivation, including the effect of deafness on cerebral water diffusion. However, nearly all investigations have studied these neuronal changes in humans rather than animal models. The present study investigates microstructural differences between 19 hearing and 27 early-deaf cats via diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). Diffusivity scalars were compared within 155 grey and 21 white matter regions. Results indicate structural plasticity in various regions throughout the deaf brain in both tissues, including perirhinal cortex, frontalis agranularis, as well as corpus callosum, superior longitudinal fasciculus, and more. This is the first study to examine DTI alterations following auditory deprivation in cats perhaps due to compensatory plasticity, overall demonstrating that early-deafness incites alterations throughout the brain.