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| Brain: Optic radiation | ||
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| Deep dissection of cortex and brain-stem. (Optic radiation labeled at center left.) | ||
| Latin | radiatio optica | |
| NeuroNames | ancil-529 | |
| Dorlands/Elsevier | r_01/12686139 | |
The optic radiation (also known as the geniculo-calcarine tract or as the geniculostriate pathway) is a collection of axons from relay neurons in the lateral geniculate nucleus of the thalamus carrying visual information to the visual cortex (also called striate cortex) along the calcarine fissure.
There is one such tract on each side of the brain.
Parts
A distinctive feature of the optic radiations is that they split into two parts on each side:
| Source | Path | Information | Damage |
| Fibers from the inferior retina (also called "Meyer's loop" or "Archambault's loop") | must pass into the temporal lobe by looping around the inferior horn of the lateral ventricle. | Carry information from the superior part of the visual field | A lesion in the temporal lobe that results in damage to Meyer's loop causes a characteristic loss of vision in a superior quadrant (quadrantanopia.) |
| Fibers from the superior retina | travel straight back to the occipital lobe in the retrolenticular limb of the internal capsule to the visual cortex. | Carry information from the inferior part of the visual field | Taking the shorter path, these fibers are less susceptible to damage. |
Additional images
 Horizontal section of right cerebral hemisphere. |
 Diagram of the tracts in the internal capsule. |
 3D schematic representation of optic tracts |
External links
- Optic+radiation at eMedicine Dictionary
- Kier LE, Staib LH, Davis, LM, Bronen, RA (2004). "MR Imaging of the Temporal Stem: Anatomic Dissection Tractography of the Uncinate Fasciculus, Inferior Occipitofrontal Fasciculus, and Meyer’s Loop of the Optic Radiation". Am J Neuroradiology 25: 677–691. PMID 15140705. Retrieved on 2007-12-19.
- http://www2.umdnj.edu/~neuro/studyaid/Practical2000/Q34.htm
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