Receptor autoradiographic mapping of the mesial motor and premotor cortex of the macaque monkey

Cyto-, Myelo-, and Receptor Architectonics of the Human Parietal Cortex

Various cyto- and myeloarchitectonic maps of the human parietal cortex have been published since the beginning of the past century. However, the parietal lobe remains an uncharted region, since these anatomical findings fail to explain the much greater areal differentiation, especially in the posterior parietal cortex, which has recently been revealed by functional imaging studies. This lack of congruence does not imply a total lack of correspondence between anatomical and functional data, since several practically forgotten architectonic studies published during the first 5 decades of the past century demonstrate a much more differentiated map of the parietal cortex than the popular map of Brodmann and others. Moreover, recent receptor-architectonic studies also demonstrate a detailed architectonic pattern the functional aspects of which will be explored in the near future.

Broca's region subserves imagery of motion: a combined cytoarchitectonic and fMRI study

Broca's region in the dominant cerebral hemisphere is known to mediate the production of language but also contributes to comprehension. Here, we report the differential participation of Broca's region in imagery of motion in humans. Healthy volunteers were studied with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while they imagined movement trajectories following different instructions. Imagery of right-hand finger movements induced a cortical activation pattern including dorsal and ventral portions of the premotor cortex, frontal medial wall areas, and cortical areas lining the intraparietal sulcus in both cerebral hemispheres. Imagery of movement observation and of a moving target specifically activated the opercular portion of the inferior frontal cortex. A left-hemispheric dominance was found for egocentric movements and a right-hemispheric dominance for movement characteristics in space. To precisely localize these inferior frontal activations, the fMRI data were coregistered with cytoarchitectonic maps of Broca's areas 44 and 45 in a common reference space. It was found that the activation areas in the opercular portion of the inferior frontal cortex were localized to area 44 of Broca's region. These activations of area 44 can be interpreted to possibly demonstrate the location of the human analogue to the so-called mirror neurones found in inferior frontal cortex of nonhuman primates. We suggest that area 44 mediates higher-order forelimb movement control resembling the neuronal mechanisms subserving speech.

A stereological approach to human cortical architecture: identification and delineation of cortical areas

Stereology offers a variety of procedures to analyze quantitatively the regional and laminar organization in cytoarchitectonically defined areas of the human cerebral cortex. Conventional anatomical atlases are of little help in localizing specific cortical areas, since most of them are based on a single brain and use highly observer-dependent criteria for the delineation of cortical areas. In consequence, numerous cortical maps exist which greatly differ with respect to number, position, size and extent of cortical areas. We describe a novel algorithm-based procedure for the delineation of cortical areas, which exploits the automated estimation of volume densities of cortical cell bodies. Spatial sampling of the laminar pattern is performed with density profiles, followed by multivariate analysis of the profiles' shape, which locates the cytoarchitectonic borders between neighboring cortical areas at sites where the laminar pattern changes significantly. The borders are then mapped to a human brain atlas system comprising tools for three dimensional reconstruction, visualization and morphometric analysis. A sample of brains with labeled cortical areas is warped into the reference brain of the atlas system in order to generate a population map of the cortical areas, which describes the intersubject variability in spatial conformation of cortical areas. These population maps provide a novel tool for the interpretation of images obtained with functional imaging techniques.

Neurofilament protein distribution in the macaque monkey dorsolateral premotor cortex

Regional and laminar distribution patterns of neurofilament proteins in the dorsolateral premotor cortex (PMd) were studied with monoclonal antibody SMI-32 in five adult macaque monkeys and compared with the cytoarchitectonical features of the PMd. Our goal was to reveal whether the increasing functional diversity of the PMd which electrophysiological studies have unravelled over the last years is reflected on a structural level by differences in the neurochemical phenotype. Differences in size, shape and packing density of immunopositive layer III and V pyramidal cells define areas much more clearly than do differences in cytoarchitecture. The PMd can be subdivided into a rostral and a caudal part at a level slightly anterior to the genu of the arcuate sulcus. The extent of these two areas matches the two cytoarchitectonically defined areas F7 and F2, respectively. Within area F2, differences in layer V immunoreactive neurons define a dorsal (F2d) and a ventral (F2v) region. The border between areas F2d and F2v lies at the superior precentral dimple and cannot be detected cytoarchitectonically in Nissl-stained sections. Neurofilament proteins are involved in the stabilization of the cytoskeleton of the axon and have been correlated with axonal size and conduction velocity of nerve fibres. This regional variability in the neurochemical phenotype of layer V within the caudal PMd may reflect a differential organization of the descending output from this part of the premotor cortex. It might also be related to differences in the motor control of voluntary arm and leg movements.

Computational analysis of functional connectivity between areas of primate cerebral cortex

Recent analyses of association fibre networks in the primate cerebral cortex have revealed a small number of densely intra-connected and hierarchically organized structural systems. Corresponding analyses of data on functional connectivity are required to establish the significance of these structural systems. We therefore built up a relational database by systematically collating published data on the spread of activity after strychnine-induced disinhibition in the macaque cerebral cortex in vivo. After mapping these data to two different parcellation schemes, we used three independent methods of analysis which demonstrate that the cortical network of functional interactions is not homogeneous, but shows a clear segregation into functional assemblies of mutually interacting areas. The assemblies suggest a principal division of the cortex into visual, somatomotor and orbito-temporo-insular systems, while motor and somatosensory areas are inseparably interrelated. These results are largely compatible with corresponding analyses of structural data of mammalian cerebral cortex, and deliver the first functional evidence for 'small-world' architecture of primate cerebral cortex.