Abstract
In 1925 Constantin von Economo (1876–1931) and Georg N. Koskinas (1885–1975), working in the Psychiatric Clinic of Julius Wagner-Jauregg (1857–1940) at the University of Vienna, published their monumental Atlas and Textbook of Cytoarchitectonics of the Adult Human Cerebral Cortex, following in the footsteps of Theodor Meynert (1833–1892) and Korbinian Brodmann (1868–1918). Von Economo and Koskinas provided a much more detailed verbal and pictorial description of the variations in cellular structure (cytoarchitecture) of cerebral cortical layers, compared to Brodmann. By dissecting each gyrus and sulcus perpendicularly to its axis, von Economo and Koskinas successfully addressed the core problem of flattening out the convoluted polyhedral surface of the human cerebral mantle. They defined five structural cortical types (agranular, frontal, parietal, polar, and granulous) and 107 cytoarchitectonic area modifications (35 frontal, 13 limbic, 6 insular, 18 parietal, 7 occipital, 14 temporal, and 14 hippocampal). Their numerous discoveries include the koniocortex, i.e. the dusty appearance of sensory areas, and the identification, at the boundaries of koniocortex with ordinary isocortex in parietal, temporal and occipital areas, of thin bands with giant pyramidal cells, the so-called parasensory zones. Von Economo and Koskinas also provided the first comprehensive description of the distinct rod and corkscrew cells in cingulate and frontoinsular areas known today as “von Economo neurons” that are putatively involved in social behavior and the pathophysiology of neurodevelopmental and mental diseases. The cortical cytoarchitectonics system of von Economo and Koskinas may be especially meaningful in conjunction with modern studies on functional imaging in the human brain.
This study is dedicated to the memory of Professor Edward G. Jones (1939–2011).
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Amaral DG, Insausti R (1990) Hippocampal formation. In: Paxinos G (ed) The human nervous system. Academic, San Diego, pp 711–755
Bailey P, von Bonin G (1951) The isocortex of man. University of Illinois Press, Urbana
Bartels A, Zeki S (2005) The chronoarchitecture of the cerebral cortex. Philos Trans R Soc Lond [Biol Sci] 360:733–750
Bock DD, Allen Lee W-C, Kerlin AM, Andermann ML, Hood G, Wetzel AW, Yurgenson S, Soucy ER, Kim HS, Reid RC (2011) Network anatomy and in vivo physiology of visual cortical neurons. Nature 471:177–182
Briggman KL, Helmstaedter M, Denk W (2011) Wiring specificity in the direction-selectivity circuit of the retina. Nature 471:183–188
Brodal A (1981) Neurological anatomy in relation to clinical medicine. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Brodmann K (1909) Vergleichende Lokalisationslehre der Großhirnrinde. J.A. Barth, Leipzig
Campbell AW (1905) Histological studies on the localization of cerebral function. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Caspers S, Geyer S, Schleicher A, Mohlberg H, Amunts K, Zilles K (2006) The human inferior parietal cortex: cytoarchitectonic parcellation and interindividual variability. Neuroimage 33:430–448
Catani M, Stuss DR (2012) At the forefront of clinical neuroscience. Cortex 48:1–6
Catani M, Dell’Acqua F, Vergani F, Malik F, Hodge H, Roy P, Valabregue R, Thiebaut de Schotten M (2012) Short frontal lobe connections of the human brain. Cortex 48:273–291
Chen X, Leischner U, Rochefort NL, Nelken I, Konnerth A (2011) Functional mapping of single spines in cortical neurons in vivo. Nature 475:501–505
Chiry O, Tardif E, Magistretti PJ, Clarke S (2003) Patterns of calcium-binding proteins support parallel and hierarchical organization of human auditory areas. Eur J Neurosci 17:397–410
de Olmos J (1990) Amygdaloid nuclear gray complex. In: Paxinos G (ed) The human nervous system. Academic, San Diego, pp 583–710
DeMyer W (1988) Neuroanatomy. Harwal Publishing, Malvern
Eidelberg D, Galaburda AM (1984) Inferior parietal lobule: divergent architectonic asymmetries in the human brain. Arch Neurol 41:843–852
Elliot Smith G (1907) A new topographical survey of the human cerebral cortex, being an account of the distribution of the anatomically distinct cortical areas and their relationship to the cerebral sulci. J Anat Physiol (Lond) 41:237–254
Garey LJ (2006) Brodmann’s localisation in the cerebral cortex. Springer, New York
Hackett TA, Preuss TM, Kaas JH (2001) Architectonic identification of the core region in auditory cortex of macaques, chimpanzees, and humans. J Comp Neurol 441:197–222
Helmstaedter M, Briggman KL, Denk W (2011) High-accuracy neurite reconstruction for high-throughput neuroanatomy. Nat Neurosci 14:1081–1088
Hougan M, Altevogt B (2008) From molecules to minds—challenges for the 21st century: workshop summary. National Academies, Washington, DC
Jakob C (1939) Folia neurobiológica Argentina, Atlas I: El cerebro humano—su anatomía sistemática y topográfica. Aniceto López Editor, Buenos Aires
Jakob C (1941) Folia neurobiológica Argentina, Tomo I: neurobiología general. Aniceto López Editor, Buenos Aires
Jones EG (2008) Cortical maps and modern phrenology. Brain 131:2227–2233
Jones EG (2010) Cellular structure of the human cerebral cortex. Brain 133:945–946
Koskinas GN (1926) Cytoarchitectonics of the human cerebral cortex. Proc Athens Med Soc 92:44–48
Koskinas GN (1931) Scientific works published in German. Pyrsus, Athens
Koskinas GN (1969) Lobus occipitalis: makroskopische und mikroskopische Beschreibung. Privately Published, Athens
Mazziotta JC, Toga AW, Evans AC, Fox PT, Lancaster JL (1995) Digital brain atlases. Trends Neurosci 18:210–211
Meyer A (1977) The search for a morphological substrate in the brains of eminent persons including musicians: a historical review. In: Critchley M, Henson RA (eds) Music and the brain: studies in the neurology of music. William Heinemann, London, pp 255–281
Ngowyang G (1934) Die Cytoarchitektonik des menschlichen Stirnhirns I. Cytoarchitektonische Felderung der Regio granularis und Regio dysgranularis. Monogr Natl Res Inst Psychol Acad Sin (Shanghai) 7:1–68
Pandya DN, Sanides F (1973) Architectonic parcellation of the temporal operculum in rhesus monkey and its projection pattern. Z Anat Entwickl-Geschichte 139:127–161
Rosenberg L (1907) Histologische Untersuchung über die Cytoarchitektonik der Heschl’schen Windungen. Neurol Cbl 14:685–686
Sanides F (1962) Die Architektonik des menschlichen Stirnhirns. Springer, Berlin/Göttingen/Heidelberg
Sanides F (1964) The cyto-myeloarchitecture of the human frontal lobe and its relation to phylogenetic differentiation of the cerebral cortex. J Hirnforsch 47:269–282
Schwartz EL, Shaw A, Wolfson E (1989) A numerical solution to the generalized mapmaker’s problem: flattening nonconvex polyhedral surfaces. IEEE Trans Pattern Anal Mach Intell 11:1005–1008
Smith DF (2010) Cognitive brain mapping for better or worse. Perspect Biol Med 53:321–329
Solari SVH, Stoner R (2011) Cognitive consilience: primate non-primary neuroanatomical circuits underlying cognition. Front Neuroanat 5:1–23. doi:10.3389/fnana.2011.00065 (article 65)
Suzuki WA, Amaral DG (2003) Where are the perirhinal and parahippocampal cortices? A historical overview of the nomenclature and boundaries applied to the primate medial temporal lobe. Neuroscience 120:893–906
Talairach J, Tournoux P (1988) Co-planar stereotaxic atlas of the human brain. 3-dimensional proportional system: an approach to cerebral imaging (trans: Rayport M). G. Thieme Verlag, Stuttgart
Théodoridou ZD, Triarhou LC (2012) Challenging the supremacy of the frontal lobe: early views (1906–1909) of Christfried Jakob on the human cerebral cortex. Cortex 48:15–25
Toga AW, Thompson PM (2007) What is where and why it is important. Neuroimage 37:1045–1049
Triarhou LC (2005) Georg N. Koskinas (1885–1975) and his scientific contributions to the normal and pathological anatomy of the human brain. Brain Res Bull 68:121–139
Triarhou LC (2006) The signalling contributions of Constantin von Economo to basic, clinical and evolutionary neuroscience. Brain Res Bull 69:223–243
Triarhou LC (2007a) The Economo-Koskinas atlas revisited: cytoarchitectonics and functional context. Stereotact Funct Neurosurg 85:195–203
Triarhou LC (2007b) A proposed number system for the 107 cortical areas of Economo and Koskinas, and Brodmann area correlations. Stereot Funct Neurosurg 85:204–215
Triarhou LC (2008) Centenary of Christfried Jakob’s discovery of the visceral brain: an unheeded precedence in affective neuroscience. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 32:984–1000
Triarhou LC (2009) Tripartite concepts of mind and brain, with special emphasis on the neuroevolutionary postulates of Christfried Jakob and Paul MacLean. In: Weingarten SP, Penat HO (eds) Cognitive psychology research developments. Nova, Hauppauge, pp 183–208
Triarhou LC (2010) Revisiting Christfried Jakob’s concept of the dual onto-phylogenetic origin and ubiquitous function of the cerebral cortex: a century of progress. Brain Struct Funct 214:319–338
Triarhou LC (2012) Cytoarchitectonics of the human cerebral cortex: the 1926 presentation by Georg N. Koskinas (1885–1975) to the Athens Medical Society. In: Bright P (ed) Neuroimaging—cognitive and clinical neuroscience. InTech Publishers, Rijeka/Vienna, pp 1–16
Triarhou LC, del Cerro M (2006) Semicentennial tribute to the ingenious neurobiologist Christfried Jakob (1866–1956)—2. Publications from the second Argentina period, 1913–1949. Eur Neurol 56:189–198
Tyler CW, Likova LT (2011) Estimating neural signal dynamics in the human brain. Front Syst Neurosci 5:1–17. doi:10.3389/fnsys.2011.00033 (article 33)
Uylings HBM, Rajkowska G, Sanz-Arigita E, Amunts K, Zilles K (2005) Consequences of large interindividual variability for human brain atlases: converging macroscopical imaging and microscopical neuroanatomy. Anat Embryol 210:423–431
van Bogaert L, Théodoridès J (1979) Constantin von Economo: the man and the scientist. Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna
Vogt O (1927) Architektonik der menschlichen Hirnrinde. Zbl Gesamte Neurol Psychiatrie 45:510–512
Vogt C, Vogt O (1919) Allgemeinere Ergebnisse unserer Hirnforschung. J Psychol Neurol (Leipz) 25:279–461
Vogt BA, Vogt LJ, Perl DP, Hof PR (2001) Cytology of human caudomedial cingulate, retrosplenial, and caudal parahippocampal cortices. J Comp Neurol 438:353–376
von Bonin G (1950) Essay on the cerebral cortex. Charles C. Thomas, Springfield
von Economo C (1925) Die fünf Bautypen der Grosshirnrinde. Schweiz Arch Neurol Psychiatrie 16:260–269
von Economo C (1927) Zellaufbau der Grosshirnrinde des Menschen: Zehn Vorlesungen. Julius Springer, Berlin
von Economo C (1929) Wie sollen wir Elitegehirne verarbeiten? Z Gesamte Neurol Psychiatrie 121:323–409
von Economo C (2009) Cellular structure of the human cerebral cortex (trans, ed: Triarhou LC). Karger, Basel
von Economo C, Horn L (1930) Über Windungsrelief, Maße und Rindenarchitektonik der Supratemporalfläche, ihre individuellen und ihre Seitenunterschiede. Z Gesamte Neurol Psychiatrie 130:678–757
von Economo C, Koskinas GN (1923) Die sensiblen Zonen des Großhirns. Klin Wochenschr 2:905
von Economo C, Koskinas GN (1925) Die Cytoarchitektonik der Hirnrinde des Erwachsenen Menschen: Textband und Atlas mit 112 Mikrophotographischen Tafeln. Springer, Vienna
von Economo C, Koskinas GN (2008) Atlas of cytoarchitectonics of the adult human cerebral cortex (trans, rev, ed: Triarhou LC). Karger, Basel
Watson KK, Jones TK, Allman JM (2006) Dendritic architecture of the von Economo neurons. Neuroscience 141:1107–1112
Webster WR, Garey LJ (1990) Auditory system. In: Paxinos G (ed) The human nervous system. Academic, San Diego, pp 889–944
Zilles K (2004) Architecture of the human cerebral cortex: regional and laminar organization. In: Paxinos G, Mai JK (eds) The human nervous system, 2nd edn. Elsevier/Academic, Amsterdam/London, pp 997–1055
Zilles K, Amunts K (2010) Centenary of Brodmann’s map: conception and fate. Nat Rev Neurosci 11:139–145
Zilles K, Amunts K (2012) Architecture of the cerebral cortex. In: Mai JK, Paxinos G (eds) The human nervous system, 3rd edn. Elsevier/Academic, Amsterdam/London, pp 836–895
Zilles K, Palomero-Gallagher N (2001) Cyto-, myelo-, and receptor architectonics of the human parietal cortex. Neuroimage 14:S8–S20
Acknowledgments
The author gratefully acknowledges the support of Karger Publishers, the Bodossakis Foundation, the Academy of Athens, the Hellenic Ministry of National Education, the Hellenic Neurological Society, and the University of Macedonia in his effort to revive the neuroanatomical works of von Economo and Koskinas, as well as the invaluable encouragement by the family members of the two eminent scientists.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2013 Springer Berlin Heidelberg
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Triarhou, L.C. (2013). The Cytoarchitectonic Map of Constantin von Economo and Georg N. Koskinas. In: Geyer, S., Turner, R. (eds) Microstructural Parcellation of the Human Cerebral Cortex. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-37824-9_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-37824-9_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-37823-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-37824-9
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)