Trends and properties of human cerebral cortex: Correlations with cortical myelin content

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Matthew F. Glasser, Washington University; Manu S. Goyal, Washington University; Todd M Preuss, Emory University; Marcus E. Raichle, Washington University; David C. Van Essen, Washington University
• Language: English
• Date: 2014-06-01
• Publisher: Elsevier: Creative Commons Licenses
• Publication Version: Author Accepted Manuscript (After Peer Review)
• Copyright Statement: © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
• License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2013.03.060
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: NeuroImage
• ISSN: 1053-8119
• Volume: 93
• Start Page: 165
• End Page: 175
• Grant/Funding Information: Support for PET data acquisition was provided by NS 06833.; Chimpanzee and macaque data qcquisition was supported by NIH Grant P01AG026423.; MFG was supported by an individual fellowship NIH F30 MH097312.; Supported by NIH ROI MH-60974 and by the Human Connectome Project (1U54MH091657-01) from the 16 NIH Institutes; and Centers that support the NIH Blueprint for Neuroscience Research.
• Keywords: PYRAMIDAL CELL; Life Sciences & Biomedicine; Cortical parcellation; Neuroimaging; Neurosciences & Neurology; Cerebral cortex; MYELOARCHITECTURE; Myelin map; Neurosciences; PATTERNS; AREAS; Radiology, Nuclear Medicine & Medical Imaging; HUMAN-BRAIN; ORGANIZATION; GRAY; PET; Cortical area; MRI; MACAQUE MONKEY; MATTER; Aerobic glycolysis; Science & Technology
• Research Categories: Health Sciences, Radiology; Health Sciences, Pathology; Biology, Neuroscience

Abstract

"In vivo Brodmann mapping" or non-invasive cortical parcellation using MRI, especially by measuring cortical myelination, has recently become a popular research topic, though myeloarchitectonic cortical parcellation in humans previously languished in favor of cytoarchitecture. We review recent in vivo myelin mapping studies and discuss some of the different methods for estimating myelin content. We discuss some ways in which myelin maps may improve surface registration and be useful for cross-modal and cross-species comparisons, including some preliminary cross-species results. Next, we consider neurobiological aspects of why some parts of cortex are more myelinated than others. Myelin content is inversely correlated with intracortical circuit complexity - in general, more myelin content means simpler and perhaps less dynamic intracortical circuits. Using existing PET data and functional network parcellations, we examine metabolic differences in the differently myelinated cortical functional networks. Lightly myelinated cognitive association networks tend to have higher aerobic glycolysis than heavily myelinated early sensory-motor ones, perhaps reflecting greater ongoing dynamic anabolic cortical processes. This finding is consistent with the hypothesis that intracortical myelination may stabilize intracortical circuits and inhibit synaptic plasticity. Finally, we discuss the future of the in vivo myeloarchitectural field and cortical parcellation - "in vivo Brodmann mapping" - in general.