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Direct diffusion-based parcellation of the human thalamus

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Abstract

To assess stable anatomical features of the human thalamus, an unbiased diffusion tensor parcellation approach was used to segment thalamic substructures with similar spatial orientation. We determined localization, size and individual variations of 21 thalamic clusters in a group of 63 healthy human subjects (32 males/31 females). The laterality differences accounted for ±6 % and gender differences for ±4 % of the thalamic volume. Consecutively, five stable clusters in the anterior, medial, lateral and posterior thalamus were selected, which were common to 90 % of all subjects and contained at least 10 voxels. These clusters could be assigned to the anteroventral nucleus (AN) group, the mediodorsal (MD) nucleus, the medial pulvinar (PuM), and the lateral nuclei group. The subcortical and cortical connectivity of these clusters revealed that: (1) the oblique cranio-caudal-oriented fibers of the AN cluster mainly connect to limbic structures, (2) the numerous dorso-frontal-oriented fibers of MD mainly project to the prefrontal cortex and the medial temporal lobe, (3) the fibers of the PuM running in parallel with the x-axis project to medio-occipital and medio-temporal areas and connect visual areas with the hippocampus and amygdala and via intrathalamic pathways with medio-frontal areas, and (4) the oblique caudo-cranial fibers of the two lateral clusters located anteriorly in the motor and posteriorly in the sensory thalamus are routing sensory–motor information from the brain stem via the internal capsule to pre- and peri-central regions of the cortex.

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Abbreviations

AC:

Anterior commissure

Acc:

Nucleus accumbens

AD:

Anterodorsal nucleus

AM:

Anteromedial nucleus

Amy:

Amygdala

AN:

Anterior cluster

AV:

Anteroventral group

BS:

Brainstem

Cau:

Caudate nucleus

CoG:

Center of gravity

DDO:

Dominant diffusion orientations

Den:

Dentate nucleus

DTI:

Diffusion tensor imaging

EPI:

Echo planar imaging

Hip:

Hippocampus

LA:

Lateral-anterior cluster

LD:

Lateral dorsal group

LP:

Lateral-posterior cluster

MD:

Mediodorsal nucleus

MED:

Medial cluster

MRI:

Magnetic resonance imaging

Pal:

Pallidum

PC:

Posterior commissure

PO:

Posterior cluster

PuM:

Medial pulvinar

Put:

Putamen

Red:

Red nucleus

SD:

Standard deviation

T :

Tesla

TE:

Echo time

TR:

Repetition time

VA:

Ventral anterior

VLa:

Ventral lateral anterior

VLp:

Ventral lateral posterior

VM:

Ventral medial

VP:

Ventral posterior complex

VPI:

Ventral posterior inferior nucleus

VPL:

Ventral posterolateral

VPM:

Ventral posteromedial

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Acknowledgments

The digital model of the 3D anatomy of the thalamus according to the atlas of Morel (Krauth et al. 2010) was obtained by a written consent with Prof. G. Székely from the Computer Vision Laboratory of the ETH Zürich. We thank Susanne Reiterer for providing the data, Klaus Scheffler for giving access to analysis facilities, Bernd Kardatzki for technical support, Ute Habel, and Eugene Datta for reviewing the manuscript. The German research council (DFG) Grant GR 833/9-1 in part supported this work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, JARA-Translational Brain Medicine, University Hospital, Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule (RWTH) Aachen University, Pauwelstr. 30, Aachen, 52074, Germany

    Vinod Kumar & Wolfgang Grodd

  2. Graduate School of Neural and Behavioral Sciences, International Max Planck Research School, Tübingen, Germany

    Vinod Kumar

  3. Software Development for Integrated Diagnostics and Therapy, German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg, Germany

    Sarah Mang

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  1. Vinod Kumar
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Correspondence to Wolfgang Grodd.

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Kumar, V., Mang, S. & Grodd, W. Direct diffusion-based parcellation of the human thalamus. Brain Struct Funct 220, 1619–1635 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00429-014-0748-2

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