Title
Overlapping connections within the motor cortico-basal ganglia circuit: fMRI-tractography analysis.
Abstract
Contribution of the subcortical nuclei to the coordination of human behavior is dependent on the existence of appropriate anatomical architecture. Interpretations of available data have led to opposing ‘information funneling’ and ‘parallel processing’ hypotheses. Using motor circuit as a model, we examined whether cortico-subcortical circuits, especially cortico-basal ganglia circuits, are funneled or parallel in the control of volitional movement. Twenty-five healthy subjects underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Activated clusters during self-initiated, sequential finger-to-thumb opposition movements of the left hand were identified in the bilateral supplementary motor area (SMA), right lateral premotor cortex (PM) and primary motor cortex (M1), and in the right striatum and thalamus. These functionally defined clusters were applied to probabilistic tractography based on diffusion-weighted MRI to examine patterns of connectivity. Striatal and thalamic sub-regions with high probabilities of connection to the motor cortices partially overlapped, with connection to the two premotor areas outspreading rostrally relative to M1. We suggest that, on a macroscopic anatomical level, there is overlap as well as segregation among connections of the motor cortices with the striatum and thalamus. This supports the notion that neuronal information of the motor cortices is funneled, and parallel processing is not an exclusive principle in the basal ganglia.
Year
DOI
Venue
2013
10.1016/j.neuroimage.2013.04.026
NeuroImage
Keywords
Field
DocType
information funneling,Magnetic resonance imaging,Parallel processing,Striatum,Thalamus
Thalamus,Developmental psychology,Neuroscience,Functional magnetic resonance imaging,Premotor cortex,Striatum,Psychology,Supplementary motor area,Primary motor cortex,Tractography,Basal ganglia
Journal
Volume
ISSN
Citations 
78
1053-8119
0
PageRank 
References 
Authors
0.34
6
8
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Takuya Oguri100.34
Nobukatsu Sawamoto2151.83
Hayato Tabu310.71
S Urayama4356.90
Masao Matsuhashi521.76
Noriyuki Matsukawa600.34
Kosei Ojika700.34
Hidenao Fukuyama811419.80