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A Comprehensive Protocol for Manual Segmentation of the Medial Temporal Lobe Structures
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Anatomical segmentation of the human medial prefrontal cortex

M Córcoles-Parada1, N C J Müller2, M Ubero1

  • 1Human Neuroanatomy Laboratory and Regional Centre for Biomedical Research, School of Medicine, University of Castilla-La Mancha, Albacete, Spain.

The Journal of Comparative Neurology
|March 21, 2017
PubMed

Insights

Researchers identified medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) subareas using brain histology and MRI. They found specific sulci reliably map mPFC boundaries, enabling precise delineation in neuroimaging studies.

Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Neuroanatomy

Background:

  • The medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) is part of the limbic memory system, but its functional specialization in humans is not well understood.
  • Accurate anatomical localization is crucial for interpreting structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data of the mPFC.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To precisely identify human mPFC subareas (areas 32, 24, 14, and 25) using histological preparations.
  • To determine which sulci are most consistently associated with mPFC areal boundaries.
  • To utilize these sulci to delineate mPFC areas in MRI scans.

Main Methods:

  • Performed cyto- and myelo-architectonic analysis on 11 ex vivo human hemispheres using 3D MRI data.
  • Mapped histological boundaries of mPFC areas and measured cortical surface length and volumes.
  • Generated unfolded maps to correlate mPFC boundaries with specific sulci (cingulate and superior rostral).
  • Analyzed sulci patterns in 102 in vivo MRI scans to delineate mPFC areas.

Main Results:

  • Identified cingulate and superior rostral sulci as the most consistent landmarks for mPFC areal boundaries.
  • Observed 6 distinct sulci patterns across 11 hemispheres, also present in in vivo scans.
  • Achieved comparable volume measurements for mPFC areas across histological and MRI delineations.
  • Generated probabilistic maps of mPFC areas, registered to MNI space, for functional MRI analysis.

Conclusions:

  • Established a reliable method for delineating human mPFC subareas in MRI using specific sulcal patterns.
  • Provided probabilistic maps that facilitate regional analysis of functional MRI data, advancing the study of mPFC function.
Keywords:
SCR_001847SCR_002078SCR_004757SCR_014288anterior cingulate cortexarea 14area 24area 25area 32magnetic resonance imagingmedial prefrontal cortexstructural segmentation. RRIDs: SCR_002010

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