Skip to main content
Key Specialties
Cardiology Diabetology Endocrinology Gastroenterology Geriatrics and Gerontology Gynecology and Obstetrics Hematology Infectious Disease Internal Medicine Nephrology Neurology Oncology Pediatrics Respiratory Medicine Rheumatology Surgery
Congress Coverage
2024 ACC Congress 2023 ESMO Congress 2023 EASD Congress 2023 ERS Congress 2023 ESC Congress
Clinical Collections
Advances in Alzheimer’s

At a glance: The STEP trials

A round-up of the STEP phase 3 clinical trials evaluating semaglutide for weight loss in people with overweight or obesity.
ADVANCED SEARCH
Log in
Top
Surgical and Radiologic Anatomy
Published in: Surgical and Radiologic Anatomy 2/2018

01-02-2018 | Original Article

Inter-individual variations and hemispheric asymmetries in structural connectivity patterns of the inferior fronto-occipital fascicle: a diffusion tensor imaging tractography study

Authors: François Vassal, Benjamin Pommier, Anna Sontheimer, Jean-Jacques Lemaire

Published in: Surgical and Radiologic Anatomy | Issue 2/2018

Login to get access

Abstract

Purpose

Precise knowledge of the structural connectivity of white matter fascicles could yield new insights into function and is important for neurosurgical planning. Therefore, we aimed to provide a detailed map of the cortical terminations of the inferior fronto-occipital fascicle (IFOF), with special emphasis on putative inter-individual variations and hemispheric asymmetries.

Methods

Deterministic diffusion tensor imaging-based tractography was used to perform virtual dissection of the IFOF in 20 healthy subjects. The IFOF was probed from a single seed region of interest placed within the external/extreme capsule, i.e. the white matter region of “obligatory passage” along the known path of the IFOF. This enabled to reconstruct all the fibers belonging to the IFOF and to provide the complete map of their cortical terminations.

Results

We observed widespread projections over a total of 11 cortical territories within the occipital, parietal, temporal and frontal lobes. Importantly, compared to previous studies we consistently found some inter-individual variability with several distinct patterns connecting subsets of the 11 cortical territories, and tangible differences between the two hemispheres. IFOF terminations within the superior parietal lobule were rightward lateralized, whereas terminations within the inferior frontal gyrus were leftward lateralized.

Conclusions

Our results provide a clinically relevant map of IFOF’s cortical terminations, including intra- and inter-individual variations. Right–left differences in connectivity patterns might be related to known functional asymmetries in the human brain, and reinforce the general evidence that the IFOF likely supports distinct clinical features and functional roles according to the (affected) hemisphere, such as language and spatial attention.
Literature
1.
Curran EJ (1909) A new association fiber tract in the cerebrum with remarks on the fiber tract dissection method of studying the brain. J Compar Neurol Psychol 19:645–656CrossRef
2.
Schmahmann JD, Pandya DN (2007) The complex history of the fronto-occipital fasciculus. J Hist Neurosci 16:326–377
3.
Martino J, De Witt Hamer PC, Vergani F et al (2011) Cortex-sparing fiber dissection: an improved method for the study of white matter anatomy of the human brain. J Anat 219:531–541CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
4.
Sarubbo S, De Benedictis A, Maldonado IL, Basso G, Duffau H (2013) Frontal terminations for the inferior fronto-occipital fascicle: anatomical dissection, DTI study and functional considerations on a multi-component bundle. Brain Struct Funct 218:21–37CrossRefPubMed
5.
6.
Forkel SJ, Thiebaut de Schotten M, Kawadler JM, Dell’Acqua F, Danek A, Catani M (2014) The anatomy of fronto-occipital connections from early blunt dissections to contemporary tractography. Cortex 56:73–84CrossRefPubMed
7.
8.
Thiebaut de Schotten M, Dell’Acqua F, Valabregue R, Catani M (2012) Monkey to human comparative anatomy of the frontal lobe association tracts. Cortex 48:82–96CrossRefPubMed
9.
Anwander A, Tittgemeyer M, von Cramon DY, Friederici AD, Knösche TR (2007) Connectivity-based parcellation of Broca’s area. Cereb Cortex 17:816–825CrossRefPubMed
10.
Hua K, Oishi K, Zhang J et al (2009) Mapping of functional areas in the human cortex based on connectivity through association fibers. Cereb Cortex 19:1889–1895CrossRefPubMed
11.
Madhavan A, Schwarz CG, Duffy JR et al (2016) Characterizing white matter tract degeneration in syndromic variants of Alzheimer’s disease: a diffusion tensor imaging study. J Alzheimers Dis 49:633–643CrossRefPubMed
12.
Urbanski M, Thiebaut de Schotten M, Rodrigo S et al (2008) Brain networks of spatial awareness: evidence from diffusion tensor imaging tractography. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 79:598–601CrossRefPubMed
13.
Philippi CL, Mehta S, Grabowski T, Adolphs R, Rudruaf D (2009) Damage to association fiber tracts impairs recognition of the facial expression of emotion. J Neurosci 29:15089–15099CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
14.
15.
Fernàndez-Miranda JC, Wang Y, Pathak S, Stefaneau L, Verstynen T, Yeh FC (2014) Asymmetry, connectivity, and segmentation of the arcuate fascicle in the human brain. Brain Struct Funct 220:1665–1680CrossRefPubMed
16.
Makris N, Preti MG, Asami T et al (2013) Human middle longitudinal fascicle: variations in patterns of anatomical connections. Brain Struct Funct 218:951–968CrossRefPubMed
17.
Catani M, Thiebaut de Schotten M (2008) A diffusion tensor imaging tractography atlas for virtual in vivo dissections. Cortex 44:1105–1032CrossRefPubMed
18.
Desmond JE, Sum JM, Wagner AD et al (1995) Functional MRI measurement of language lateralization in Wada-tested patients. Brain 118:1411–1419CrossRefPubMed
19.
Nieuwenhuys R, Voogd J, Van Huijzen C (1988) The human central nervous system. Springer, BerlinCrossRef
20.
Bürgel U, Amunts K, Hoemke L, Mohlberg H, Gilsbach JM, Zilles K (2006) White matter fiber tracts of the human brain: three-dimensional mapping at microscopic resolution, topography and intersubject variability. Neuroimage 29:1092–1105CrossRefPubMed
21.
Amunts K, Willmes K (2006) From intersubject variability in clinical syndromes to anatomical variability. Brain Lang 96:147–150CrossRefPubMed
22.
Geschwind N, Levitsky W (1968) Human brain: left–right asymmetries in temporal speech regions. Science 161:186–187CrossRefPubMed
23.
Thiebaut de Schotten M, Ffytche DH, Bizzi A (2011) Atlasing location, asymmetry and inter-subject variability of white matter tracts in the human brain with MR diffusion tractography. Neuroimage 54:49–59CrossRefPubMed
24.
Kansaku K, Kitazawa S (2001) Imaging studies on sex differences in tha lateralization of language. Neurosci Res 41:333–337CrossRefPubMed
25.
Vigneau M, Beaucousin V, Hervé PY et al (2006) Meta-analysing left hemisphere language areas: phonology, semantics, and sentence processing. Neuroimage 30:1414–1432CrossRefPubMed
26.
Leclercq D, Duffau H, Delmaire C et al (2010) Comparison of diffusion tensor imaging tractography of language tracts and intraoperative subcortical stimulations. J Neurosurg 112:503–511CrossRefPubMed
27.
Barrick TR, Lawes IN, Mackay CE, Clark CA (2007) White matter pathway asymmetry underlies functional lateralization. Cereb Cortex 17:591–598CrossRefPubMed
28.
Nakamura K, Kawashima R, Sato N et al (2000) Functional delineation of the human occipito-temporal areas related to face and scene processing. A PET study. Brain 123:1903–1912CrossRefPubMed
29.
30.
31.
Klingberg T, Hedehus M, Temple E et al (2000) Microstructure of temporo-parietal white matter as a basis for reading ability: evidence from diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging. Neuron 25:493–500CrossRefPubMed
Metadata
Title
Inter-individual variations and hemispheric asymmetries in structural connectivity patterns of the inferior fronto-occipital fascicle: a diffusion tensor imaging tractography study
Authors
François Vassal
Benjamin Pommier
Anna Sontheimer
Jean-Jacques Lemaire
Publication date
01-02-2018
Publisher
Springer Paris
Published in
Surgical and Radiologic Anatomy / Issue 2/2018
Print ISSN: 0930-1038
Electronic ISSN: 1279-8517
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00276-017-1966-0

Other articles of this Issue 2/2018

Surgical and Radiologic Anatomy 2/2018 Go to the issue

Book Review

Ioannis N. Mavridis: Stereotactic brain microanatomy: mathematical principles and applications (Neuroanatomy Research at the Leading Edge)

Anatomic Variations

Rare anatomic variation: true bifid inferior turbinate

Anatomic Variations

Persistent trigeminal artery variant terminating in the posterior inferior cerebellar artery: a case report

Teaching Anatomy

3D printing the pterygopalatine fossa: a negative space model of a complex structure

Original Article

Imaging and anatomical features of ethmomaxillary sinus and its differentiation from surrounding air cells

Original Article

The third ventricle roof: an anatomical study using constructive interference in steady-state magnetic resonance imaging