Milardi Demetrio, Cacciola Alberto, Cutroneo Giuseppina, Marino Silvia, Irrera Mariangela, Cacciola Giorgio, Santoro Giuseppe, Ciolli Pietro, Anastasi Giuseppe, Calabrò Rocco Salvatore, Quartarone Angelo
Department of Biomedical, Dental Sciences and Morphological and Functional Images, University of Messina, Italy; IRCCS Centro Neurolesi "Bonino Pulejo", S.S. 113, Via Palermo, C.da Casazza, 98124 Messina, Italy.
Department of Biomedical, Dental Sciences and Morphological and Functional Images, University of Messina, Italy.
Neurosci Lett. 2016 Jul 28;626:68-73. doi: 10.1016/j.neulet.2016.05.009. Epub 2016 May 12.
Previous Diffusion Tensor Imaging studies have demonstrated that the human red nucleus is widely interconnected with sensory-motor and prefrontal cortices. In this study, we assessed red nucleus connectivity by using a multi-tensor model called non- negative Constrained Spherical Deconvolution (CSD), which is able to resolve more than one fiber orientation per voxel. Connections of the red nuclei of fifteen volunteers were studied at 3T using CSD axonal tracking. We found significant connectivity between RN and the following cortical and subcortical areas: cerebellar cortex, thalamus, paracentral lobule, postcentral gyrus, precentral gyrus, superior frontal gyrus and dentate nucleus. We confirmed that red nucleus is tightly linked with the cerebral cortex and has dense subcortical connections with thalamus and cerebellar cortex. These findings may be useful in a clinical context considering that RN is involved in motor control and it is known to have potential to compensate for injury of the corticospinal tract.
以往的扩散张量成像研究表明，人类红核与感觉运动皮层和前额叶皮层广泛相连。在本研究中，我们使用一种称为非负约束球面反卷积（CSD）的多张量模型评估红核连通性，该模型能够解析每个体素中不止一个纤维方向。在3T条件下，使用CSD轴突追踪技术研究了15名志愿者的红核连接情况。我们发现红核与以下皮质和皮质下区域之间存在显著的连通性：小脑皮质、丘脑、中央旁小叶、中央后回、中央前回、额上回和齿状核。我们证实红核与大脑皮层紧密相连，并与丘脑和小脑皮质有密集的皮质下连接。考虑到红核参与运动控制且已知具有补偿皮质脊髓束损伤的潜力，这些发现可能在临床环境中有用。
