Foot, hand, face and eye representation in the human striatum

The present study aimed at determining the three-dimensional organization of striatal activation during foot, hand, face and eye movements. Seven right-handed, healthy volunteers were studied at 1.5 T using blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) contrast. The tasks consisted of self-paced flexion/extension of the right and left fingers and right toes, contraction of the lips and saccadic eye movements. For foot, hand and face movements, striatal activation was mainly found in the putamen with a somatotopical organization, the foot area being dorsal, the face area more ventral and medial, the hand area in between. Overlap between somatotopic territories was present, more prominent for hand-face than for foot-face or foot-hand areas. In the putamen, the activated areas of the ipsi- and contralateral hand areas were not identical, suggesting a partial segregation of the ipsi- and contralateral striatal sensorimotor projections. For saccadic eye movements, bilateral activation was observed at the junction between the body and the head of the caudate nucleus and in the right putamen. These data present evidence for a somatotopic organization of the human striatum which corresponds with the topography of corticostriatal projections described in the non-human primates.