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Cerebrum: Anatomical Overview I

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The main and largest component of the human brain is the cerebrum. The cerebrum consists of two main parts: the cerebral cortex, an outer layer with wrinkles or folds known as gyri and shallow grooves called sulci, and a deeper region beneath it. The cerebrum divides into two distinct hemispheres and contains five different lobes: the frontal, parietal, temporal, occipital, and insula. The central sulcus separates the frontal and parietal lobes and two functionally important gyri — the...

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Nov 20, 2025

How to Measure Cortical Folding from MR Images: a Step-by-Step Tutorial to Compute Local Gyrification Index

How to Measure Cortical Folding from MR Images: a Step-by-Step Tutorial to Compute Local Gyrification Index

Published on: January 2, 2012

Physical aspects of cortical folding.

Alexander Greiner¹, Stefan Kaessmair¹, Silvia Budday¹

¹Institute of Applied Mechanics, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Friedrich-Alexander-University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, 91058 Erlangen, Germany. silvia.budday@fau.de.

|January 22, 2021

Summary

Swelling polymer experiments reveal physical mechanisms driving human brain folding. Varying thickness and stiffness can replicate developmental malformations like lissencephaly.

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Last Updated: Nov 20, 2025

How to Measure Cortical Folding from MR Images: a Step-by-Step Tutorial to Compute Local Gyrification Index

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Published on: September 23, 2018

Area of Science:

Biophysics
Developmental Biology
Materials Science

Background:

The folded surface of the human brain is essential for cognitive function.
Mechanical instabilities are implicated in early brain development and cortical folding, but in vivo study is challenging.

Purpose of the Study:

To experimentally investigate the physical mechanisms underlying human brain shape development.
To explore the influence of cortical thickness and stiffness ratio on brain surface patterns.

Main Methods:

Utilized a swelling polymer setup with a two-layered structure mimicking gray and white matter.
Investigated initially smooth fetal brain geometry at week 22.
Varied cortical thickness and stiffness ratio in gel specimens.

Main Results:

Generated complex surface morphologies resembling human brain patterns.
Results align with analytical predictions.
Successfully reproduced cortical malformations like polymicrogyria and lissencephaly by altering thickness and stiffness.

Conclusions:

Wrinkling transitioning into folding is the primary instability mechanism in brain development.
Experiments offer insights into distinguishing wrinkling and creasing instabilities.
Swelling experiments demonstrate the physical basis of brain shape and aid understanding of development.