TY - JOUR
T1 - Atlasing the frontal lobe connections and their variability due to age and education
T2 - a spherical deconvolution tractography study
AU - Rojkova, K.
AU - Volle, E.
AU - Urbanski, M.
AU - Humbert, F.
AU - Dell’Acqua, F.
AU - Thiebaut de Schotten, M.
PY - 2016/4/1
Y1 - 2016/4/1
N2 - In neuroscience, there is a growing consensus that higher cognitive functions may be supported by distributed networks involving different cerebral regions, rather than by single brain areas. Communication within these networks is mediated by white matter tracts and is particularly prominent in the frontal lobes for the control and integration of information. However, the detailed mapping of frontal connections remains incomplete, albeit crucial to an increased understanding of these cognitive functions. Based on 47 high-resolution diffusion-weighted imaging datasets (age range 22–71 years), we built a statistical normative atlas of the frontal lobe connections in stereotaxic space, using state-of-the-art spherical deconvolution tractography. We dissected 55 tracts including U-shaped fibers. We further characterized these tracts by measuring their correlation with age and education level. We reported age-related differences in the microstructural organization of several, specific frontal fiber tracts, but found no correlation with education level. Future voxel-based analyses, such as voxel-based morphometry or tract-based spatial statistics studies, may benefit from our atlas by identifying the tracts and networks involved in frontal functions. Our atlas will also build the capacity of clinicians to further understand the mechanisms involved in brain recovery and plasticity, as well as assist clinicians in the diagnosis of disconnection or abnormality within specific tracts of individual patients with various brain diseases.
AB - In neuroscience, there is a growing consensus that higher cognitive functions may be supported by distributed networks involving different cerebral regions, rather than by single brain areas. Communication within these networks is mediated by white matter tracts and is particularly prominent in the frontal lobes for the control and integration of information. However, the detailed mapping of frontal connections remains incomplete, albeit crucial to an increased understanding of these cognitive functions. Based on 47 high-resolution diffusion-weighted imaging datasets (age range 22–71 years), we built a statistical normative atlas of the frontal lobe connections in stereotaxic space, using state-of-the-art spherical deconvolution tractography. We dissected 55 tracts including U-shaped fibers. We further characterized these tracts by measuring their correlation with age and education level. We reported age-related differences in the microstructural organization of several, specific frontal fiber tracts, but found no correlation with education level. Future voxel-based analyses, such as voxel-based morphometry or tract-based spatial statistics studies, may benefit from our atlas by identifying the tracts and networks involved in frontal functions. Our atlas will also build the capacity of clinicians to further understand the mechanisms involved in brain recovery and plasticity, as well as assist clinicians in the diagnosis of disconnection or abnormality within specific tracts of individual patients with various brain diseases.
KW - Aging
KW - Atlas
KW - Diffusion-weighted imaging
KW - Fasciculi
KW - Frontal lobe
KW - Tractography
KW - U-shaped tracts
KW - White matter
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84923040724&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s00429-015-1001-3
DO - 10.1007/s00429-015-1001-3
M3 - Article
C2 - 25682261
AN - SCOPUS:84923040724
SN - 1863-2653
VL - 221
SP - 1751
EP - 1766
JO - Brain Structure and Function
JF - Brain Structure and Function
IS - 3
ER -