Abstract
Recent progress in anatomical and functional MRI has revived the demand for a reliable, topographic map of the human cerebral cortex. Till date, interpretations of specific activations found in functional imaging studies and their topographical analysis in a spatial reference system are, often, still based on classical architectonic maps. The most commonly used reference atlas is that of Brodmann and his successors, despite its severe inherent drawbacks. One obvious weakness in traditional, architectural mapping is the subjective nature of localising borders between cortical areas, by means of a purely visual, microscopical examination of histological specimens. To overcome this limitation, more objective, quantitative mapping procedures have been established in the past years. The quantification of the neocortical, laminar pattern by defining intensity line profiles across the cortical layers, has a long tradition. During the last years, this method has been extended to enable a reliable, reproducible mapping of the cortex based on image analysis and multivariate statistics. Methodological approaches to such algorithm-based, cortical mapping were published for various architectural modalities. In our contribution, principles of algorithm-based mapping are described for cyto- and receptorarchitecture. In a cytoarchitectural parcellation of the human auditory cortex, using a sliding window procedure, the classical areal pattern of the human superior temporal gyrus was modified by a replacing of Brodmann’s areas 41, 42, 22 and parts of area 21, with a novel, more detailed map. An extension and optimisation of the sliding window procedure to the specific requirements of receptorarchitectonic mapping, is also described using the macaque central sulcus and adjacent superior parietal lobule as a second, biologically independent example. Algorithm-based mapping procedures, however, are not limited to these two architectural modalities, but can be applied to all images in which a laminar cortical pattern can be detected and quantified, e.g. myeloarchitectonic and in vivo high resolution MR imaging. Defining cortical borders, based on changes in cortical lamination in high resolution, in vivo structural MR images will result in a rapid increase of our knowledge on the structural parcellation of the human cerebral cortex.
Similar content being viewed by others
Abbreviations
- 2D:
-
two-dimensional
- 3D:
-
three-dimensional
- AChE:
-
acetylcholinesterase
- BA:
-
Brodmann’s area
- CL:
-
cluster analysis
- Cs:
-
central sulcus
- d :
-
cortical depth
- GLI:
-
Grey level index
- HG:
-
Heschl’s gyrus
- HS:
-
Heschl’s sulcus
- ips:
-
intraparietal sulcus
- l :
-
length of feature vector
- MD:
-
Mahalanobis distance
- MRI:
-
magnet resonance imaging
- MTG:
-
middle temporal gyrus
- n :
-
number of profiles in a cortical sector
- P :
-
level of significance
- ROI:
-
region of interest
- STG:
-
superior temporal gyrus
- STS:
-
superior temporal sulcus
- SW:
-
sliding window
- TP:
-
temporal plane
- w :
-
width of a cortical layer
References
Amunts K, Zilles K (2001) Advances in cytoarchitectonic mapping of the human cerebral cortex. Anat Basis Funct Magn Reson Imaging 11:151–169
Amunts K, Schleicher A, Bürgel U, Mohlberg H, Uylings HBM, Zilles K (1999) Broca’s region revisited: cytoarchitecture and intersubject variability. J Comp Neurol 412:319–341
Amunts K, Malicovic A, Mohlberg H, Schormann T, Zilles K (2000) Brodmann’s areas 17 and 18 brought into stereotactic space—where and how variable? Neuroimage 11:66–84
Amunts K, Schleicher A, Zilles K (2002) Architectonic mapping of the human cerebral cortex. In: Schüz A, Miller R (eds) Cortical areas: unity and diversity. Taylor & Francis, New York, NY, pp 29–52
Annese J, Pitiota A, Dinova ID, Toga AW (2004) A myelo-architectonic method for the structural classification of cortical areas. Neuroimage 21:15–26
Artacho-Perula E, Arbizu J, Arroyo-Jimenez M del M, Marcos P, Martinez-Marcos A, Blaizot X, Insausti R (2004) Quantitative estimation of the primary auditory cortex in human brains. Brain Res 1008:20–28
Bok ST, van Kip MJE (1939) The size of the body and the size and the number of the nerve cells in the cerebral cortex. Acta Ned Morphol 3:1–22
Bortz J (1999) Statistik für Sozialwissenschaftler. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York
Brodmann K (1909) Vergleichende Lokalisationslehre der Großhirnrinde in ihren Prinzipien dargestellt auf Grund des Zellenbaues. J.A. Barth, Leipzig
Burwell RD (2001) Borders and cytoarchitecture of the perirhinal and postrhinal cortices in the rat. J Comp Neurol 437:17–41
Crum WR, Griffin LD, Hill DL, Hawkes DJ (2003) Zen and the art of medical image registration: correspondence, homology, and quality. Neuroimage 20:1425–1437
de Vos K, Pool CW, Sanz-Arigita EJ, Uylings HBM (2004) Curvature effects in observer independent cytoarchitectonic mapping of the human cerebral cortex. Proceedings of the Second Vogt–Brodmann Symposium, Research Center Jülich, Germany, p 44
Dixon WJ, Brown MB, Engelman L, Hill MA, Jennrich RI (1988) BMDP Statistical Software Manual. University of California Press, Berkley, CA
Eickhoff S, Geyer S, Amunts K, Mohlberg H, Zilles K (2002) Cytoarchitectonic analysis and stereotaxic map of the human secondary somatosensory cortex region. Neuroimage 16(S1):1780
Eickhoff S, Schleicher A, Zilles K, Amunts K (2003) Automated exploratory delineation and analysis of cortical areas. Program No. 863.4. Society for Neuroscience, Washington, DC (Online)
Eickhoff S, Walters N, Schleicher A, Egan G, Watson J, Zilles K, Amunts K (2004) High resolution MR imaging reveals microstructural features of the cerebral cortex. Hum Brain Mapp 24:206–215
Fatterpekar GM, Naidich TP, Delman BN, Aguinaldo JG, Gultekin H, Sherwood CC, Hof R, Drayer BP, Fayad ZA (2002) Cytoarchitecture of the human cerebral cortex: MR microscopy of excised specimens at 9.4 Tesla. AJNR Am J Neuroradiol 23:1313–1321
Geyer S, Ledberg A, Schleicher A, Kinomura S, Schormann T, Bürgel U, Larsson J, Zilles K, Roland PE (1996) Two different areas within the primary motor cortex of man. Nature 382:805–807
Geyer S, Schleicher A, Zilles K (1999) Areas 3a, 3b, and 1 of human primary somatosensory cortex. 1. Microstructural organization and interindividual variability. Neuroimage 10:63–83
Gower JC (1985) Measures of similarity, dissimilarity, and distance. In: Kotz S, Johnson NL (eds) Encyclopaedia of statistical sciences, vol 5. Wiley, New York
Grefkes C, Geyer S, Schormann T, Roland P, Zilles K (2001) Human somatosensory area 2: observer-independent cytoarchitectonic mapping, interindividual variability, and population map. Neuroimage 14:617–631
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
Hopf A (1966) Über eine Methode zur objektiven Registrierung der Myeloarchitektonik der Hirnrinde. J Hirnforsch 8:302–313
Hopf A (1968a) Registration of the myeloarchitecture of the human frontal lobe with an extinction method. J Hirnforsch 10:259–269
Hopf A (1968b) Photometric studies on the myeloarchitecture of the human temporal lobe. J Hirnforsch 10:285–297
Hudspeth AJ, Ruark JE, Kelly JP (1976) Cytoarchitectonic mapping by microdensitometry. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 73:2928–2931
Jones SE, Buchbinder BR, Aharon I (2000) Three-dimensional mapping of cortical thickness using Laplace’s equation. Hum Brain Mapp 11:12–32
Kruggel F, Bruckner MK, Arendt T, Wiggins CJ, von Cramon DY (2003) Analyzing the neocortical fine-structure. Med Image Anal 7:251–264
Lidow MS, Goldman-Rakic PS, Rakic P, Gallager DW (1988) Differential quenching and limits of resolution in autoradiograms of brain tissue labelled with 3H-, 125I- and 14C-compounds. Brain Res 459:105–119
Merker B (1983) Silver staining of cell bodies by means of physical development. J Neurosci Methods 9:235–241
Morecraft RJ, Cipolloni PB, Stilwell-Morecraft KS, Gedney MT, Pandya DN (2004) Cytoarchitecture and cortical connections of the posterior cingulate and adjacent somatosensory fields in the rhesus monkey. J Comp Neurol 469:37–69
Morosan P, Rademacher J, Schleicher A, Amunts K, Schormann T, Zilles K (2001) Human primary auditory cortex: cytoarchitectonic subdivisions and mapping into a spatial reference system. Neuroimage 13:684–701
Morosan P, Palomero-Gallagher N, Rademacher J, Schleicher A, Mohlberg H, Amunts K, Zilles K (2004a) Cyto- and receptor architecture of human auditory cortex. Proceedings of the Second Vogt–Brodmann Symposium, the converge of structure and function, Jülich, p 31
Morosan P, Schleicher A, Amunts K, Zilles K (2004b) Multimodal architectonic mapping of human superior temporal gyrus. Anat Embryol (this issue)
Mountcastle VB (1978) An organizing principle for cerebral function: the unit module and the distributed system. In: Edelmann GM, Mountcastle VB (eds) The mindful brain: cortical organization and the group-selective theory of higher brain function. MIT Press, Cambridge, pp 7–51
Ramm P, Kulick JH, Stryker MP, Frost BJ (1984) Video and scanning microdensitometer-based imaging systems in autoradiographic video densitometry. J Neurosci Methods 11:89–100
Roland PE, Zilles K (1994) Brain atlases—a new research tool. TINS 17:458–467
Sanz-Arigita EJ, de Vos K, Pool CW, Uylings HBM (2002) Multivariate quantitative cytoarchitectonics. Laminar characterization of cortical microstructure by cell-type selection. Neuroimage 16(2 Suppl 1)
Sanz-Arigita EJ, de Vos K, Pool CW, Uylings HBM (2004) Multivariate quantitative analysis of the microstructure of the cingulate cortex—areas 24 of Brodmann. Abstracts of the Second Vogt–Brodmann Symposium, the converge of structure and function, Jülich, p 44
Schleicher A, Zilles K (1990) A quantitative approach to cytoarchitectonics: analysis of structural inhomogeneities in nervous tissue using an image analyser. J Microsc 157:367–381
Schleicher A, Ritzdorf H, Zilles K (1987) Erster Ansatz zur objektiven Lokalisation von Arealgrenzen im Cortex cerebri. Verh Anat Ges 81:867–868
Schleicher A, Amunts K, Geyer S, Morosan P, Zilles K (1999) Observer-independent method for microstructural parcellation of cerebral cortex: a quantitative approach to cytoarchitectonics. Neuroimage 9:165–177
Schleicher A, Amunts K, Geyer S, Kowalski T, Schormann T, Palomero-Gallagher N, Zilles K (2000) A stereological approach to human cortical architecture: identification and delineation of cortical areas. J Chem Neuroanat 20:31–47
Schmitt O, Böhme M (2002) A robust transcortical profile scanner for generating 2-d traverses in histological sections of richly curved cortical courses. Neuroimage 16:1103–1119
Schmitt O, Hömke L, Dümbgen L (2003) Detection of cortical transition regions utilizing statistical analyses of excess masses. Neuroimage 19:42–63
Schmitt O, Pakura M, Aach T, Hömke L, Böhme M, Bock S, Preusse S (2004) Analysis of nerve fibres and their distribution in histological sections of the human brain. Microsc Res Tech 63:220–243
Sherwood CC, Broadfield DC, Holloway RL, Gannon PJ, Hof PR (2003) Variability of Broca’s area homologue in African great apes: implications for language evolution. Anat Rec 271A:276–285
Talairach J, Tournoux P (1988) Co-planar stereotactic atlas of the human brain. 3-dimensional proportional system: an approach to the cerebral imaging. Thieme, Stuttgart
Timm NH (2002) Applied multivariate analysis. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York
Vogt C, Vogt O (1919) Allgemeinere Ergebnisse unserer Hirnforschung. J Psychol Neurol 25:279–461
von Economo K, Koscinas G (1925) Die Cytoarchitektonic der Hirnrinde des erwachsenen Menschen. Springer, Wien
Walters NB, Egan GF, Kril JJ, Kean M, Waley P, Jenkinson M, Watson JD (2003) In vivo identification of human cortical areas using high-resolution MRI: an approach to cerebral structure–function correlation. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 100:2981–2986 (Epub 2003 Feb 24)
Walters B, Eickhoff S, Schleicher A, Zilles K, Egan GF, Amunts K, Watson JDG (submitted) Observer independent analysis of high-resolution MR images of the human cerebral cortex: in vivo delineation of cortical areas
Wree A, Schleicher A, Zilles K (1982) Estimation of volume fractions in nervous tissue with an image analyzer. J Neurosci Methods 6:29–43
Zilles K, Palomero-Gallagher N (2001) Cyto-, myelo-, and receptor architectonics of the human parietal cortex. Neuroimage 14:8–20
Zilles K, Schlaug G, Matelli M, Luppino G, Schleicher A, Qü M, Dabringhaus A, Seitz R, Roland PE (1995) Mapping of human and macaque sensorimotor areas by integrating architectonic, transmitter receptor, MRI and PET data. J Anat 187:515–537
Zilles K, Schleicher A, Palomero-Gallagher N, Amunts K (2002a) Quantitative analysis of cyto- and receptor architecture of the Human brain. In: Toga AW, Maziotta JC (eds) Brain mapping: the methods, 2nd edn. Academic, Amsterdam, pp 573–602
Zilles K, Palomero-Gallagher N, Grefkes C, Scheperjans F, Boy C, Amunts K, Schleicher A (2002b) Architectonics of the human cerebral cortex and transmitter receptor fingerprints: reconciling functional neuroanatomy and neurochemistry. Eur Neuropsychopharmacol 12:587–599
Zilles K, Eickhoff S, Palomero-Gallagher N (2003) The human parietal cortex: a novel approach to its architectonic mapping. Adv Neurol 93:1–21
Acknowledgements
The study was supported by the Brain Imaging Center West (BMBF 01GO0204). The Human Brain Project/Neuroinformatics research is funded by the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, and the National Institute of Mental Health.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Schleicher, A., Palomero-Gallagher, N., Morosan, P. et al. Quantitative architectural analysis: a new approach to cortical mapping. Anat Embryol 210, 373–386 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00429-005-0028-2
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00429-005-0028-2