Center for Information and Neural Networks (CiNet), National Institute of Information and Communications Technology, and Osaka University, Osaka, Japan; Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan
Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine INM-1, Research Centre Jülich, Jülich, Germany; Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Medical Faculty, RWTH Aachen, Aachen, Germany; C. & O. Vogt Institute for Brain Research, Heinrich-Heine-University, Düsseldorf, Germany
Markus Axer
Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine INM-1, Research Centre Jülich, Jülich, Germany
Department of Pathology, Section on Comparative Medicine, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, United States
Roger Woods
Ahmanson-Lovelace Brain Mapping Center, Departments of Neurology and of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, David Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA, Los Angeles, United States
Karl Zilles
Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine INM-1, Research Centre Jülich, Jülich, Germany; JARA - Translational Brain Medicine, Aachen, Germany
Although the primate visual system has been extensively studied, detailed spatial organization of white matter fiber tracts carrying visual information between areas has not been fully established. This is mainly due to the large gap between tracer studies and diffusion-weighted MRI studies, which focus on specific axonal connections and macroscale organization of fiber tracts, respectively. Here we used 3D polarization light imaging (3D-PLI), which enables direct visualization of fiber tracts at micrometer resolution, to identify and visualize fiber tracts of the visual system, such as stratum sagittale, inferior longitudinal fascicle, vertical occipital fascicle, tapetum and dorsal occipital bundle in vervet monkey brains. Moreover, 3D-PLI data provide detailed information on cortical projections of these tracts, distinction between neighboring tracts, and novel short-range pathways. This work provides essential information for interpretation of functional and diffusion-weighted MRI data, as well as revision of wiring diagrams based upon observations in the vervet visual system.
