Open AccessRegional cerebral blood flow correlations of somatosensory areas 3a, 3b, 1, and 2 in humans during rest: A PET and cytoarchitectural study
Author(s) -
Young Jeremy P.,
Geyer Stefan,
Grefkes Christian,
Amunts Katrin,
Morosan Patricia,
Zilles Karl,
Roland Per E.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
human brain mapping
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.005
H-Index - 191
eISSN - 1097-0193
pISSN - 1065-9471
DOI - 10.1002/hbm.10114
Subject(s) - macaque , somatosensory system , neuroscience , cerebral blood flow , dorsum , cytoarchitecture , hum , resting state fmri , functional connectivity , psychology , brain mapping , anatomy , cartography , biology , medicine , geography , cardiology , art , performance art , art history
The concept of functional connectivity relies on the assumption that cortical areas that are directly anatomically connected will show correlations in regional blood flow (rCBF) or regional metabolism. We studied correlations of rCBF of cytoarchitectural areas 3a, 3b, 1, and 2 in the brains of 37 subjects scanned with PET during a rest condition. The cytoarchitectural areas, delineated from 10 postmortem brains with statistical methods, were transformed into the same standard anatomical format as the resting PET images. In areas 3a, 3b, and 1, somatotopically corresponding regions were intercorrelated. Area 2 was correlated with the dorsal pre‐motor area. These results were in accordance with the somatosensory connectivity in macaque monkeys. In contrast, we also found correlations between areas 3b and 1 with area 4a, and SMA, and among the left and right hand sector of areas 3a, 3b, and 1. Furthermore, there were no correlations between areas 3b, 1, and 2 with SII or other areas in the parietal operculum, nor of other areas known to be directly connected with areas 3a, 3b, 1, and 2 in macaques. This indicates that rCBF correlations between cortical areas during the rest state only partly reflect their connectivity and that this approach lacks sensitivity and is prone to reveal spurious or indirect connectivity. Hum. Brain Mapping 19:183–196, 2003. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.