Elsevier

NeuroImage

Volume 37, Issue 4, 1 October 2007, Pages 1061-1065
NeuroImage

Commentary
Cytoarchitecture of the cerebral cortex—More than localization

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2007.02.037Get rights and content

Abstract

The present paper reviews that macroanatomical landmarks are problematic for a reliable and sufficiently precise localization of clusters of activation obtained by functional imaging because sulcal and gyral patterns are extremely variable and macroanatomical landmarks do not match (in nearly all cases) architectonically defined borders. It argues that cytoarchitectonic probabilistic maps currently offer the most precise tool for the localization of brain functions as obtained from functional imaging studies. Finally, it provides some examples that cytoarchitecture is more than localization with respect to a particular brain region because it reflects the inner organization of cortical areas and, furthermore, functional principles of the brain.

Section snippets

Problems with macroanatomical landmarks

From its very beginning, architectonic research was not a pure anatomical effort, but the pioneers established structural–functional correlations by combined architectonic and neurophysiological observations in macaque and human brains (Brodmann, 1914, Vogt and Vogt, 1919). As shown with modern techniques, borders between cytoarchitectonic areas are functionally relevant. Combined electrophysiological and architectonic studies in experimental animals have demonstrated that response properties

Advantages and development of cytoarchitectonic probabilistic maps

Meanwhile, cytoarchitectonic probabilistic maps of this and other areas of the human brain have been introduced (http://www.fz-juelich.de/ime/index.php?index=51). Probabilistic cytoarchitectonic maps of cortical areas are based on (i) observer-independent definitions of areal borders (Schleicher et al., 1999) in cell body stained histological sections of ten, completely and serially sectioned post-mortem brains, (ii) 3D reconstruction of these sections using the MR data set of the same

Organizational principles of the cerebral cortex revealed through quantitative cytoarchitectonics

The cytoarchitectonic definition of a cortical area provides more than just a “label” for functional imaging studies. It contributes to our understanding of the organizational principles of the cerebral cortex through a quantitative analysis of cytoarchitecture. One way to do so is the analysis of parameter profiles, which quantify the cytoarchitecture of an area by capturing changes in the laminar structure from the surface of the cortex to the white matter border. Profiles sampled in

Conclusions

  • I.

    Macroanatomical landmarks are problematic for a reliable and sufficiently precise localization of cluster of activation obtained by functional imaging because sulcal and gyral patterns are extremely variable and macroanatomical landmarks do not match (in nearly all cases) architectonically defined borders.

  • II.

    Cytoarchitectonic probabilistic maps currently offer the most precise tool for the localization of brain functions as obtained from functional imaging studies. It is expected that such maps

Acknowledgments

We thank Ursula Blohm for preparing thousands of brilliant histological whole brain sections and Milenko Kujovic for contributing to the analysis of GLI profiles. This Human Brain Project/Neuroinformatics research was partly funded by the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, and the National Institute of Mental Health, several grants of the DFG and the EU, as well as the Helmholtz-Association of Research

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