BACKGROUND: The fiber-dissection technique provides unique 3-dimensional anatomic knowledge of the white matter. OBJECTIVE: To better identify the frontostriatal pathways in the human brain, we used a fiber-dissection technique to reconstruct neural connections between the frontal cortex and the nucleus accumbens (NAcc), which is the most ventral extent of the striatum. METHODS: Thirty previously frozen, formalin-fixed human brains were dissected under the operating microscope using a modified fiber-dissection technique, primarily reported by Klingler. RESULTS: Our serial dissections of 30 human brain specimens clearly demonstrated that projection fibers form a connection between the NAcc and the frontal lobe. We evidenced this newly described subcortical tract as an accumbofrontal fasciculus. This focal projection was concentrated at the level of the ventromedial part of the NAcc and characterized by an elective and specific projection from the orbitomedial prefrontal cortex, particularly the gyrus rectus and the medial orbital gyrus situated between the H-shaped and the medial orbital sulcus. CONCLUSION: The accumbofrontal fasciculus is an elective and specific projection from the orbitoprefrontal cortex. This fasciculus is part of a corticostriatothalamocortical loop and a putative target for deep-brain stimulation in the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder and major depression. The analysis of in vivo diffusion tractography, used today as a standard in the investigation of many brain disorders, could potentially take advantage of complementary anatomic correlations and functional extrapolations, as described in this study.
BACKGROUND: The fiber-dissection technique provides unique 3-dimensional anatomic knowledge of the white matter. OBJECTIVE: To better identify the frontostriatal pathways in the human brain, we used a fiber-dissection technique to reconstruct neural connections between the frontal cortex and the nucleus accumbens (NAcc), which is the most ventral extent of the striatum. METHODS: Thirty previously frozen, formalin-fixed human brains were dissected under the operating microscope using a modified fiber-dissection technique, primarily reported by Klingler. RESULTS: Our serial dissections of 30 human brain specimens clearly demonstrated that projection fibers form a connection between the NAcc and the frontal lobe. We evidenced this newly described subcortical tract as an accumbofrontal fasciculus. This focal projection was concentrated at the level of the ventromedial part of the NAcc and characterized by an elective and specific projection from the orbitomedial prefrontal cortex, particularly the gyrus rectus and the medial orbital gyrus situated between the H-shaped and the medial orbital sulcus. CONCLUSION: The accumbofrontal fasciculus is an elective and specific projection from the orbitoprefrontal cortex. This fasciculus is part of a corticostriatothalamocortical loop and a putative target for deep-brain stimulation in the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder and major depression. The analysis of in vivo diffusion tractography, used today as a standard in the investigation of many brain disorders, could potentially take advantage of complementary anatomic correlations and functional extrapolations, as described in this study.
Authors: Jiook Cha; Tomer Fekete; Francesco Siciliano; Dominik Biezonski; Laurence Greenhill; Steven R Pliszka; Joseph C Blader; Amy Krain Roy; Ellen Leibenluft; Jonathan Posner Journal: Neuropsychopharmacology Date: 2015-02-03 Impact factor: 7.853
Authors: Katherine H Karlsgodt; Majnu John; Toshikazu Ikuta; Philippe Rigoard; Bart D Peters; Pamela Derosse; Anil K Malhotra; Philip R Szeszko Journal: Hum Brain Mapp Date: 2015-09-14 Impact factor: 5.038
Authors: Maia S Pujara; Carissa L Philippi; Julian C Motzkin; Mustafa K Baskaya; Michael Koenigs Journal: J Neurosci Date: 2016-05-04 Impact factor: 6.167