Abstract
The adhesio interthalamica (AI) is a small midline brain structure that connects the left and right thalamus. According to in vivo data, between 2.3 and 22.3% of the general population lack the AI, and the question of whether this absence is more prevalent in males than in females is a matter of debate. Despite the existence of these demographic figures, it remains unclear how this distinctive feature affects healthy people, or what specific anatomic profile is related to the presence or absence of the AI. The aim of this study was to investigate whole-brain gray matter (GM) volumetric differences depending on the presence or absence of the AI. A total of 240 healthy adult volunteers completed one MRI scanning session. After the AI assessment, the data from 110 participants were included in the final sample, of which 12.9% of the participants (n = 31) presented complete AI absence vs. 32.9% of participants (n = 79) who presented complete AI presence. Then, whole-brain group comparison analysis revealed that the absent AI brain, compared to the present AI brain, was associated with lower GM volume in the premotor cortex, inferior frontal gyrus, and anterior temporal cortex. Interestingly, neuroscience research has linked emotional and cognitive control brain processing to the latter two regions. The importance of these findings lies in providing a neuroanatomical profile for the absent AI brain in healthy human adults.
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Authors J. Adrián-Ventura, E. Villar-Rodriguez, L. Marin-Marin, and N. Aguirre were supported by a pre-doctoral graduate program grant (National FPU). In addition, this work was supported by a post-doctoral graduate program grant to M-Á. Palomar-García and A. Miró-Padilla (Postdoc-UJI). V. Costumero was supported by grant PID2019-105077RJ-I00 from Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades. Author E. Bueichekú was funded by a post-doctoral grant from the “Generalitat Valenciana (2018 APOSTD)” and the “European Social Fund (Investing in your future)”.
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AM-P: conceptualization, methodology, formal analysis, investigation, writing—original draft, and visualization; JA-V: formal analysis, and writing—review and editing; VC: software; M-ÁP-G, LM-M, and NA: investigation; EV-R: data curation; EB: conceptualization, methodology, writing—review and editing, and supervision.
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Miró-Padilla, A., Adrián-Ventura, J., Costumero, V. et al. The adhesio interthalamica as a neuroanatomical marker of structural differences in healthy adult population. Brain Struct Funct 226, 1871–1878 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00429-021-02297-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00429-021-02297-6