Brain Connectivity and Behaviour Group, Brain and Spine Institute, Paris, France.
Frontlab, Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle épinière (ICM), UPMC UMRS 1127, Inserm U 1127, CNRS UMR 7225, Paris, France.
Cereb Cortex. 2017 Aug 1;27(8):4033-4047. doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhw215.
The nature of the inputs and outputs of a brain region defines its functional specialization. The frontal portion of the brain is essential for goal-directed behaviors, however, the biological basis for its functional organization is unknown. Here, exploring structural connectomic properties, we delineated 12 frontal areas, defined by the pattern of their white matter connections. This result was highly reproducible across neuroimaging centers, acquisition parameters, and participants. These areas corresponded to regions functionally engaged in specific tasks, organized along a rostro-caudal axis from the most complex high-order association areas to the simplest idiotopic areas. The rostro-caudal axis along which the 12 regions were organized also reflected a gradient of cortical thickness, myelination, and cell body density. Importantly, across the identified regions, this gradient of microstructural features was strongly associated with the varying degree of information processing complexity. These new anatomical signatures shed light onto the structural organization of the frontal lobes and could help strengthen the prediction or diagnosis of neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disorders.
大脑区域的输入和输出的性质决定了其功能的专业化。大脑的额叶对于目标导向的行为至关重要，然而，其功能组织的生物学基础尚不清楚。在这里，我们通过探索结构连接组学特性，描绘了 12 个额叶区域，这些区域的白质连接模式决定了它们的位置。这一结果在不同的神经影像学中心、采集参数和参与者中具有高度的可重复性。这些区域与在特定任务中功能上相关的区域相对应，沿着从最高级别的复杂联合区域到最简单的个体区域的前后轴排列。12 个区域所排列的前后轴也反映了皮质厚度、髓鞘和细胞体密度的梯度。重要的是，在确定的区域中，这种微观结构特征的梯度与信息处理复杂程度的不同程度密切相关。这些新的解剖学特征揭示了额叶的结构组织，并可能有助于加强对神经发育和神经退行性疾病的预测或诊断。
