Fronto-cerebellar circuits and eye movement control: a diffusion imaging tractography study of human cortico-pontine projections
| Autor: | Chadd M. Funk, Mitchell Glickstein, Karl W. Doron |
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| Rok vydání: | 2009 |
| Předmět: |
Adult
Male Eye Movements Inferior frontal gyrus Young Adult Cortex (anatomy) Cerebellum Pons Neural Pathways medicine Image Processing Computer-Assisted Middle frontal gyrus Temporal dynamics of music and language Humans Prefrontal cortex Molecular Biology Analysis of Variance Brain Mapping General Neuroscience Precentral gyrus Frontal Lobe Emotional lateralization medicine.anatomical_structure Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging nervous system Superior frontal gyrus Female Neurology (clinical) Psychology Neuroscience Developmental Biology |
| Zdroj: | Brain research. 1307 |
| ISSN: | 1872-6240 |
| Popis: | A possible role of the cerebellum in cognitive function might be revealed through its anatomical connections with specific regions of the cerebral cortex. To understand the kind of information transmitted between the cortex and cerebellum, we studied the connections from six subdivisions of frontal and prefrontal cortex using diffusion imaging tractography. Cortico-pontine fibers travel through the cerebral peduncles and reach the cerebellum by way of a synaptic link in the pontine nuclei. In 19 human data sets, we tracked connections between the cerebral peduncle and left hemispheric masks of the superior frontal gyrus (SFG), precentral gyrus (PcG), middle frontal gyrus (MFG), orbital frontal cortex, and two regions of inferior frontal gyrus, including pars opercularis and pars triangularis. Cortico-pontine fibers arose from the PcG, the caudal/medial SFG and a small region of the MFG in a majority of the subjects analyzed. While these regions do have known roles in cognitive and executive functions, all three are strongly associated with the planning and execution of eye movements. Connections from more ventral prefrontal cortex were negligible, indicating that these regions are only sparsely represented in the circuit. Based on this pattern of connectivity, it is likely that the prefrontal connections to the cerebellum are involved in covert motor operations and the control of eye movements. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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