Graduate Program in Neuroscience, University of Western Ontario, 1151 Richmond St, London, ON N6A 3K7, Canada.
Centre for Functional and Metabolic Mapping, Robarts Research Institute, University of Western Ontario, 1151 Richmond St, London, ON N6A 3K7, Canada.
Cereb Cortex. 2024 Oct 3;34(10). doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhae407.
A prominent aspect of primate lateral prefrontal cortex organization is its division into several cytoarchitecturally distinct subregions. Neurophysiological investigations in macaques have provided evidence for the functional specialization of these subregions, but an understanding of the relative representational topography of sensory, social, and cognitive processes within them remains elusive. One explanatory factor is that evidence for functional specialization has been compiled largely from a patchwork of findings across studies, in many animals, and with considerable variation in stimulus sets and tasks. Here, we addressed this by leveraging the common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus) to carry out large-scale neurophysiological mapping of the lateral prefrontal cortex using high-density microelectrode arrays, and a diverse suite of test stimuli including faces, marmoset calls, and spatial working memory task. Task-modulated units and units responsive to visual and auditory stimuli were distributed throughout the lateral prefrontal cortex, while those with saccade-related activity or face-selective responses were restricted to 8aV, 8aD, 10, 46 V, and 47. Neurons with contralateral visual receptive fields were limited to areas 8aV and 8aD. These data reveal a mixed pattern of functional specialization in the lateral prefrontal cortex, in which responses to some stimuli and tasks are distributed broadly across lateral prefrontal cortex subregions, while others are more limited in their representation.
灵长类动物外侧前额叶皮层组织的一个突出特点是其分为几个在细胞构筑上明显不同的亚区。对猕猴的神经生理学研究为这些亚区的功能特化提供了证据，但对它们内部感觉、社会和认知过程的相对代表性地形的理解仍然难以捉摸。一个解释因素是，功能特化的证据主要是从许多动物的研究中拼凑起来的，刺激集和任务有很大的变化。在这里，我们利用普通卷尾猴（Callithrix jacchus）通过高密度微电极阵列对外侧前额叶皮层进行大规模神经生理学映射，并使用包括面孔、卷尾猴叫声和空间工作记忆任务在内的各种测试刺激来解决这个问题。任务调节单元和对视觉和听觉刺激有反应的单元分布在外侧前额叶皮层，而那些与扫视相关的活动或对面孔有选择性反应的单元则局限于 8aV、8aD、10、46V 和 47。具有对侧视觉感受野的神经元仅限于 8aV 和 8aD 区。这些数据揭示了外侧前额叶皮层中混合的功能特化模式，其中一些刺激和任务的反应广泛分布在外侧前额叶皮层亚区，而其他反应则在其代表性上受到限制。
