Bruno Ariane, Bludau Sebastian, Mohlberg Hartmut, Amunts Katrin
Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-1), Research Centre Jülich, Jülich, Germany.
Cécile and Oskar Vogt Institute for Brain Research, University Hospital Düsseldorf, Medical Faculty, Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany.
Front Neuroanat. 2022 Aug 11;16:915877. doi: 10.3389/fnana.2022.915877. eCollection 2022.
The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) plays a key role in cognitive control and executive functions, including working memory, attention, value encoding, decision making, monitoring, and controlling behavioral strategies. However, the relationships between this variety of functions and the underlying cortical areas, which specifically contribute to these functions, are not yet well-understood. Existing microstructural maps differ in the number, localization, and extent of areas of the DLPFC. Moreover, there is a considerable intersubject variability both in the sulcal pattern and in the microstructure of this region, which impedes comparison with functional neuroimaging studies. The aim of this study was to provide microstructural, cytoarchitectonic maps of the human anterior DLPFC in 3D space. Therefore, we analyzed 10 human post-mortem brains and mapped their borders using a well-established approach based on statistical image analysis. Four new areas (i.e., SFS1, SFS2, MFG1, and MFG2) were identified in serial, cell-body stained brain sections that occupy the anterior superior frontal sulcus and middle frontal gyrus, i.e., a region corresponding to parts of Brodmann areas 9 and 46. Differences between areas in cytoarchitecture were captured using gray level index profiles, reflecting changes in the volume fraction of cell bodies from the surface of the brain to the cortex-white matter border. A hierarchical cluster analysis of these profiles indicated that areas of the anterior DLPFC displayed higher cytoarchitectonic similarity between each other than to areas of the neighboring frontal pole (areas Fp1 and Fp2), Broca's region (areas 44 and 45) of the ventral prefrontal cortex, and posterior DLPFC areas (8d1, 8d2, 8v1, and 8v2). Area-specific, cytoarchitectonic differences were found between the brains of males and females. The individual areas were 3D-reconstructed, and probability maps were created in the MNI Colin27 and ICBM152casym reference spaces to take the variability of areas in stereotaxic space into account. The new maps contribute to Julich-Brain and are publicly available as a resource for studying neuroimaging data, helping to clarify the functional and organizational principles of the human prefrontal cortex.
背外侧前额叶皮层（DLPFC）在认知控制和执行功能中起关键作用，包括工作记忆、注意力、价值编码、决策、监测和控制行为策略。然而，这种多样的功能与对这些功能有特定贡献的潜在皮层区域之间的关系尚未得到充分理解。现有的微观结构图谱在DLPFC区域的数量、定位和范围上存在差异。此外，该区域的脑沟模式和微观结构在个体间存在相当大的变异性，这阻碍了与功能神经影像学研究的比较。本研究的目的是提供三维空间中人类前侧DLPFC的微观结构、细胞构筑图谱。因此，我们分析了10个人类尸检大脑，并使用基于统计图像分析的成熟方法绘制其边界。在连续的、细胞体染色的脑切片中识别出四个新区域（即SFS1、SFS2、MFG1和MFG2），这些区域占据额上沟前部和额中回，即对应于布罗德曼区域9和46部分的区域。使用灰度指数剖面图捕捉各区域细胞构筑的差异，该剖面图反映了从脑表面到皮质 - 白质边界的细胞体体积分数变化。对这些剖面图进行层次聚类分析表明，前侧DLPFC区域之间的细胞构筑相似性高于与相邻额极区域（Fp1和Fp2区域）、腹侧前额叶皮层的布洛卡区（44和45区域）以及后侧DLPFC区域（8d1、8d2、8v1和8v2）。在男性和女性大脑之间发现了区域特异性的细胞构筑差异。对各个区域进行三维重建，并在MNI Colin27和ICBM152casym参考空间中创建概率图谱，以考虑立体定向空间中区域的变异性。这些新图谱为朱利希脑图谱做出了贡献，并作为研究神经影像学数据的资源公开提供，有助于阐明人类前额叶皮层的功能和组织原则。
