A Connectomic Analysis of the Human Basal Ganglia Network

Cacciola, Alberto; Calamuneri, Alessandro; Milardi, Demetrio; Mormina, Enricomaria; Chillemi, Gaetana; Marıno, Silvia; Naro, Antonino; Rizzo, Giuseppina; Anastasi, Giuseppe; Quartarone, Angelo

doi:10.3389/fnana.2017.00085

Cited by 70 publications

(63 citation statements)

References 71 publications

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“…The corticostriatal connectivity has been generally considered a rich set of pathways between the putamen and the caudate with frontal and parietal regions. Previous findings have shown that caudate is principally connected with the frontal cortex, such as the ventral PFC, superior frontal gyrus, rostral middle frontal gyrus, and orbitofrontal gyrus (Cacciola et al, 2017). In contrast to the latter study, the data presented in the current report revealed decreased intra-basal-ganglia-connection and absence of suprathreshold connections in the frontal or parietal area with caudate.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 99%

Structural and Functional Alterations in Hemodialysis Patients: A Voxel-Based Morphometry and Functional Connectivity Study

Jin

Wang

et al. 2020

Front. Hum. Neurosci.

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Structural and functional brain alterations have been always observed in end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients undergoing hemodialysis. The present study aimed to investigate the gray matter volume (GMV) changes in hemodialysis patients compared with those noted in healthy subjects, as well as explore the associated functional connectivity alterations based on the abnormal GMV regions. The experiments revealed the effects of regional morphometry aberrance on the brain functional integrity. A total of 46 hemodialysis patients (53.11 ± 1.58 years, 28 males) and 47 healthy subjects (55.57 ± 0.86 years, 22 males) were enrolled in the present study. All subjects underwent high-resolution T1-weighted imaging, resting-state functional MR imaging, and laboratory examinations were performed in hemodialysis patients. The GMV deficits were analyzed using voxel-based morphometry (VBM) and regions with GMV alteration were defined as seeds for functional connectivity analysis. Correlation analyses between significantly different regions and the results of the blood examination were further performed. We found that bilateral thalamus exhibited significantly increased volumes in the hemodialysis patients compared with those of the healthy subjects. However, the bilateral rectus, bilateral caudate, and bilateral temporal gyrus demonstrated significantly decreased volumes. When the regions with GMV alterations were defined as seeds, the hemodialysis patients exhibited decreased integrations in the thalamo-cortical network and within the basal-ganglia connection. The present study revealed the presence of different types of structural and functional brain impairments in hemodialysis patients.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 99%

Structural and Functional Alterations in Hemodialysis Patients: A Voxel-Based Morphometry and Functional Connectivity Study

Jin

Wang

et al. 2020

Front. Hum. Neurosci.

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“…Nevertheless, our results, in line with previous investigations, 23,25,70 may suggest the possible existence of a direct dento-pallidal connection in the human brain. Although highly speculative, it can be hypothesized that a direct dento-pallidal route may represent a fast conducting system that appeared phylogenetically later, in humans, triggered by the emergent importance of manual dexterity.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

“…15,16 More recently, we used constrained spherical deconvolution (CSD)-based tractography, a diffusion MRI-based technique allowing in vivo reconstruction of connectivity patterns between nervous structures, [17][18][19][20][21] to study the human analogues of the above-mentioned direct cortico- 22 and dento-pallidal projections. 23 These connections, likely paralleled by analogue cortico- 24 and dento-nigral 23,25 pathways, may exert a converging influence of cerebral and neocerebellar cortex on the basal ganglia output nuclei.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Structural connectivity‐based topography of the human globus pallidus: Implications for therapeutic targeting in movement disorders

et al. 2019

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Background Understanding the topographical organization of the cortico‐basal ganglia circuitry is of pivotal importance because of the spreading of techniques such as DBS and, more recently, MR‐guided focused ultrasound for the treatment of movement disorders. A growing body of evidence has described both direct cortico‐ and dento‐pallidal connections, although the topographical organization in vivo of these pathways in the human brain has never been reported. Objective To investigate the topographical organization of cortico‐ and dento‐pallidal pathways by means of diffusion MRI tractography and connectivity based parcellation. Methods High‐quality data from 100 healthy subjects from the Human Connectome Project repository were utilized. Constrained spherical deconvolution–based tractography was used to reconstruct structural cortico‐ and dento‐pallidal connectivity. Connectivity‐based parcellation was performed with a hypothesis‐driven approach at three different levels: functional regions (limbic, associative, sensorimotor, and other), lobes, and gyral subareas. Results External globus pallidus segregated into a ventral associative cluster, a dorsal sensorimotor cluster, and a caudal “other” cluster on the base of its cortical connectivity. Dento‐pallidal connections clustered only in the internal globus pallidus, where also associative and sensorimotor clusters were identified. Lobar parcellation revealed the presence in the external globus pallidus of dissociable clusters for each cortical lobe (frontal, parietal, temporal, and occipital), whereas in internal globus pallidus only frontal and parietal clusters were found out. Conclusion We mapped the topographical organization of both internal and external globus pallidus according to cortical and cerebellar connections. These anatomical data could be useful in DBS, radiosurgery and MR‐guided focused ultrasound targeting for treating motor and nonmotor symptoms in movement disorders. © 2019 The Authors. Movement Disorders published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society.

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“…The findings of Ni and associates are also in line with recent human structural connectomics data showing that precentral and postcentral gyri, the paracentral and superior parietal lobules, are connected with GP paralleling the direct, indirect, and hyperdirect pathway . The existence of a direct cortico‐pallidal connection is also corroborated by the presence of a robust band of beta coherence between the sensorimotor areas and GPi in dystonic patients with GPi‐DBS .…”

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confidence: 83%

Cortico‐pallidal connectivity: lessons from patients with dystonia

Cacciola

Milardi

Anastasi

et al. 2018

Annals of Neurology

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We read with great interest the article published by Ni et al reporting the effect of pallidal deep brain stimulation (DBS) on cortical excitability and plasticity in patients with primary cervical dystonia. 1 Interestingly, the authors found two peaks (the first with a latency of 10ms and the second of 25ms) of cortical evoked potentials in the ipsilateral motor cortical areas in response to internal globus pallidus (GPi)-DBS. In addition, transcranial magnetic stimulation with a conditioning-test paired-pulse paradigm demonstrated that GPi-DBS had a facilitatory effect on the motor evoked potentials at the interstimulus interval of 6 to 12ms, preceding an inhibitory, negative cortical peak at 22 to 26ms.Considering the short latency, facilitatory effect at 6ms between the GPi and motor cortical areas and given that GPi-DBS does not activate directly the corticospinal fibers, it is possible to hypothesize a fast, direct interplay between the GPi and the motor-related cortical areas. Although the traditional view of the basal ganglia circuitry does not assume the existence of a fast route between the cerebral cortex and the GP, this has been recently hypothesized and proved both in animals and humans. 2 Recent studies have indeed identified a direct GABAergic projection from the GP to the cerebral cortex, 3,4 as well as a glutamatergic cortico-pallidal projection. 5 The findings of Ni and associates are also in line with recent human structural connectomics data 6 showing that precentral and postcentral gyri, the paracentral and superior parietal lobules, are connected with GP paralleling the direct, indirect, and hyperdirect pathway. 2,7 The existence of a direct cortico-pallidal connection is also corroborated by the presence of a robust band of beta coherence between the sensorimotor areas and GPi in dystonic patients with GPi-DBS. 7,8 On the other hand, we cannot exclude the possible involvement of cholinergic facilitatory neurons, which are dispersed around the GPi. 1 Despite the high clinical relevance of GPi-DBS in reducing the abnormal plasticity driven within the cortico-basal ganglia network and in improving symptoms in patients with dystonia, several questions are still to be answered.It is likely that the cortico-pallidal system may act as an important node involved in the functional interactions of beta signaling in the cortex-basal ganglia-cortex loops contributing to abnormal sensory-motor plasticity and motor learning in dystonia. 7 This should be the focus of future studies aimed to design new therapeutic strategies in dystonia.

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A Connectomic Analysis of the Human Basal Ganglia Network

Cited by 70 publications

References 71 publications

Structural and Functional Alterations in Hemodialysis Patients: A Voxel-Based Morphometry and Functional Connectivity Study

Structural and Functional Alterations in Hemodialysis Patients: A Voxel-Based Morphometry and Functional Connectivity Study

Structural connectivity‐based topography of the human globus pallidus: Implications for therapeutic targeting in movement disorders

Cortico‐pallidal connectivity: lessons from patients with dystonia

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