Schmahmann Jeremy D, Pandya Deepak N
Department of Neurology, Cognitive/Behavioral Neurology Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02114, USA.
J Hist Neurosci. 2007 Jul-Sep;16(3):237-67. doi: 10.1080/09647040500495896.
Gross and microscopic studies by early investigators led the cerebral white matter from being regarded as an amorphous mass to an intricately organized system of fasciculi that facilitate the highest expression of cerebral activity. Here we pay homage to the anatomists whose observations resulted in the evolution of ideas about the cerebral white matter. We also draw attention to limitations of the earlier methodologies and to some of the conflicts and controversies that have characterized this field and that persist in the current literature. We conclude with brief reference to the principles of organization of the fiber pathways derived from our studies in the monkey using the autoradiographic tract tracing technique, another step in the ongoing investigations of the cerebral white matter. This historical review has contemporary relevance because the fiber pathways of the brain are crucial components of the distributed neural circuits that subserve nervous system function; the clinical manifestations of white matter damage are recognized with greater frequency and clarity; and magnetic resonance imaging tractography has made it possible to view these fiber bundles within the living human brain.
早期研究者的大体和微观研究，使大脑白质从被视为无定形物质转变为一个由纤维束组成的错综复杂的有组织系统，这些纤维束促进了大脑活动的最高表达。在此，我们向那些观察结果推动了关于大脑白质观念演变的解剖学家致敬。我们还提请注意早期方法的局限性，以及该领域一直存在且在当前文献中仍然存在的一些冲突和争议。我们最后简要提及我们利用放射自显影示踪技术在猴子身上进行的研究得出的纤维通路组织原则，这是对大脑白质持续研究的又一步。这一历史回顾具有当代意义，因为大脑的纤维通路是服务于神经系统功能的分布式神经回路的关键组成部分；白质损伤的临床表现得到了更频繁和清晰的认识；磁共振成像纤维束成像使在活体人类大脑中观察这些纤维束成为可能。
