Do Congenitally Blind People Have a Stria of Gennari? First in Vivo Insights on a Subcortical Level

Robert Trampel¹, Derek Veit Ott¹, Robert Turner¹

The primary visual cortex V1 is characterized by an easily identifiable anatomical landmark: the heavily myelinated stria of Gennari. Using T₁, T₂, T₂^* or phase contrast, high resolution MRI studies can routinely identify the stria of Gennari in vivo. However, the development and function of the Gennari stripe is unclear. MRI at 7 Tesla with isotropic 0.5 mm voxels was used to scan the occipital brain of sighted and congenitally blind subjects. The stria of Gennari was reliably detected in both sighted and blind subjects, showing that this anatomical feature is not a developmental result of visual input, and it does not degenerate in the absence of visual input.