A detailed comparison of the cytoarchitectonic and myeloarchitectonic maps of the human neocortex produced by the Vogt–Vogt school

Abstract

The comprehensive research programme of the Vogt–Vogt (V–V) school, which was active during the period 1900–1970, included detailed cytoarchitectonic and myeloarchitectonic analyses of the human cerebral cortex, with the aim to integrate the data obtained into a map, showing a parcellation of the human cerebral cortex into fundamental structural and potentially functional units. The cytoarchitectonic V–V analyses yielded two maps of the human cerebral cortex, the famous map of Brodmann (Vergleichende Lokalisationslehre der Grosshirnrinde in ihren Prinzipien dargestellt auf Grund des Zellenbaues. Barth, Leipzig, 1909), Brodmann (in: Bruns P (ed) Neue deutsche Chirurgie, Enke, Stuttgart, 1914), and the less known, but more detailed map of Sarkisov et al. (Cytoarchitecture of the human cortex cerebri. Medgiz, Moscow, 1949). Sarkisov et al. used in their cytoarchitectonic parcellation of the cortex the same numbering scheme as Brodmann. They confirmed the presence of most of the areas delineated by the latter, but they subdivided several of these areas into two or more separate areas or subareas. Within the realm of the myeloarchitectonic V–V analyses, numerous meticulous studies of the cortex of individual cerebral lobes were carried out, but these were not united into a single map. Consequently, the envisioned integration of cytoarchitectonic and myeloarchitectonic data mentioned above was never realized. Some years ago, we (Nieuwenhuys et al. in Brain Struct Funct 220:2551–2573, 2015a, Nieuwenhuys et al. in Brain Struct Funct 220:3753–3755, 2015b) reanalyzed the V–V myeloarchitectonic data, and succeeded in constructing a complete myeloarchitectonic map of the human neocortex from these data. Because the data provided by the V–V school were derived from many different brains, a standard brain had to be introduced as a template to which all data available could be transferred. As such the MNI305 template was selected. Having made available now the cytoarchitectonic maps of Brodmann and Sarkisov et al. and the recently prepared myeloarchitectonic map, an attempt is made here to realize at last the original aim of the V–V school, viz. the preparation of a single, combined (cyto + myelo) architectonic map of the human cortex. To this end, the following three steps have been made. First, Brodmann’s (BR) map, and the map of Sarkisov et al. (SA) were harmoniously transferred to the same template brain as the one used during the construction of our myeloarchitectonic map. Second, the standardized BR and our myeloarchitectonic (NI) map were compared, and the data contained within these maps were integrated into a single standardized combined BR–NI map (Fig. 11). The standardized SA and NI maps were subjected to the same procedure (Fig. 12). Finally, the standardized combined BR–NI and SA–NI maps were united into a single combined BR–SA–NI map (Fig. 13). This map renders it possible to make direct comparisons between the results of the architectonic studies of the V–V school and current parcellations of the human neocortex.