White matter connections within the central sulcus representing a structural substrate of the somato-cognitive action network

Saturday, May 4, 2024

2:27 PM – 2:29 PM CT

Location: Booth 745 Neuro Spotlight

Presenting Author(s)

GS

Georgios Skandalakis, MD, PhD

Neurosurgery Research Fellow
Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center

Co-Author(s)

Lorenzo Bello, MD

Professor
Università degli Studi di Milano
Milano, IT
LE

Linton Evans, MD

Assistant Professor, Residency programm director
Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center
Lebanon, New Hampshire, United States
Constantinos G. Hadjipanayis, MD, PhD

Professor of Neurological Surgery
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
New York, New York, United States
AH

Andreas Horn, MD, PhD

Associate Professor
Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital, United States
AK

Aristotelis Kalyvas, MD, PhD

Assistant Professor
Toronto Western Hospital, University Health Network
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
MK

Michael Kogan, MD, PhD

Assistant Professor, Director of Functional Neurosurgery
University of New Mexico Hospital
Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States
SK

Spyridon Komaitis, MD, PhD

Fellow
Queen's Medical Centre, Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust
Athens, Greece, Greece
cK

christos Koutsarnakis, MD, PhD

Head, Athens Microneurosurgery Laboratory
University of Athens, United States
EL

Evgenia Lani, MD, MSc

Resident
University of Athens, United States
CN

Clemens Neudorfer, MD, PhD

Fellow
Harvard Medical School
Toronto, Canada
MR

Marco Rossi, MD

Fellow
Università degli Studi di Milano
Cremona, Italy

Submitter(s)

GS

Georgios Skandalakis, MD, PhD

Neurosurgery Research Fellow
Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center

Co-Author(s)

GS

George Stranjalis, MD, PhD

Professor and Chair
University of Athens
Athens, Greece
Lv

Luca viganò, MD

Fellow
Università degli Studi di Milano, United States
Gelareh Zadeh, MD PhD

Chair of Neurosurgery
University of Toronto
TORONTO, Ontario, Canada

Disclosure(s):

Lorenzo Bello, MD: No financial relationships to disclose

Georgios Skandalakis, MD, PhD: No financial relationships to disclose

Gelareh Zadeh, MD PhD: No financial relationships to disclose

Introduction: Penfield’s homunculus was recently revisited by the characterization of a novel ‘somato-cognitive action network’ (SCAN) involving the motor cortex. The SCAN network is comprised of three nodes along the central sulcus, termed inter-effector regions, which in their configuration resemble Broca’s plis de passage (PDP). However, the association between the PDP’ structure with the SCAN network’s function remains unclear.

Methods: We study the PDP of the central sulcus in sixteen adult, Klingler’s treated cerebral hemispheres through cortex micro-dissections confined within the central lobe. Based on the locations identified via our micro-dissections, we seed fMRI connectivity across 1,000 rs-fMRI scans to compare their connectivity to the SCAN network.

Results: We consistently identified three distinct white matter connections that interrupted the depth of the central sulcus. A satellite connection close to the inferior connection was present in 50% of cases. Satellite connections adjacent to both inferior and middle connections were present in 12.5% of cases. Superior PDP were found at the level of the superior frontal gyrus (56.25%), superior frontal sulcus (31.25%), and middle frontal gyrus (MFG) (12.5%). Middle PDP were found at the level of the MFG (93.75%) and inferior frontal sulcus (6.25%). Inferior PDP were found at the level of the inferior frontal gyrus in all cases. Seeding fMRI connectivity from the average locations of the PDP across 1,000 functional connectomes resulted in a network precisely matching the priorly defined SCAN network.

Conclusion : We provide structural and functional evidence on the topography, morphology, structural and functional connectivity of the central lobe’s PDP. Our data suggests that these connections directly correspond to the newly described inter-effector regions within the SCAN network. Potentially, our results may add an anatomical interpretation to their functional description.