CCS fMRI, Koelliker Hospital, Turin, Italy.
Brain Struct Funct. 2013 Jan;218(1):1-20. doi: 10.1007/s00429-012-0382-9.
Von Economo's neurons (VENs) are large, bipolar or corkscrew-shaped neurons located in layers III and V of the frontoinsular and the anterior cingulate cortices. VENs are reported to be altered in pathologies such as frontotemporal dementia and autism, in which the individual's self control is seriously compromised. To investigate the role of VENs in the active human brain, we have explored the functional connectivity of brain areas containing VENs by analyzing resting state functional connectivity (rsFC) in 20 healthy volunteers. Our results show that cortical areas containing VENs form a network of frontoparietal functional connectivity. With the use of fuzzy clustering techniques, we find that this network comprises four sub-networks: the first network cluster resembles a "saliency detection" attentional network, which includes superior frontal cortex (Brodmann's Area, BA 10), inferior parietal lobe, anterior insula, and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex; the second cluster, part of a "sensory-motor network", comprises the superior temporal, precentral and postcentral areas; the third cluster consists of frontal ventromedial and ventrodorsal areas constituted by parts of the "anterior default mode network"; and the fourth cluster encompasses dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, dorsomedial prefrontal, and superior frontal (BA 10) areas, resembling the anterior part of the "dorsal attentional network". Thus, the network that emerges from analyzing functional connectivity among areas that are known to contain VENs is primarily involved in functions of saliency detection and self-regulation. In addition, parts of this network constitute sub-networks that partially overlap with the default mode, the sensory-motor and the dorsal attentional networks.
冯·埃科诺莫神经元（VENs）是位于额岛和前扣带皮质 III 层和 V 层的大型双极或螺旋形神经元。据报道，在额颞叶痴呆和自闭症等疾病中，VENs 会发生改变，这些疾病会严重损害个体的自我控制能力。为了研究 VENs 在活跃人脑中的作用，我们通过分析 20 名健康志愿者的静息态功能连接（rsFC），探索了包含 VENs 的脑区的功能连接。我们的研究结果表明，包含 VENs 的皮质区形成了一个额顶叶功能连接网络。通过使用模糊聚类技术，我们发现该网络包含四个子网：第一个网络集群类似于“突显检测”注意力网络，包括额上回（Brodmann 区，BA10）、下顶叶、前岛叶和背侧前扣带皮质；第二个集群，部分“感觉运动网络”，包括颞上回、中央前回和中央后回；第三个集群由腹侧前扣带皮质、腹内侧前额叶和额上回（BA10）组成，构成了“前默认模式网络”的一部分；第四个集群包括背侧前扣带皮质、背内侧前额叶和额上回（BA10），类似于“背侧注意力网络”的前部。因此，从分析已知包含 VENs 的脑区之间的功能连接中得出的网络主要涉及突显检测和自我调节功能。此外，该网络的部分区域构成了与默认模式、感觉运动和背侧注意力网络部分重叠的子网。
