A neuronal morphologic type unique to humans and great apes

Nimchinsky, Esther A.; Gilissen, Emmanuel; Allman, John M.; Perl, Daniel P.; Erwin, J.; Hof, Patrick R.

doi:10.1073/pnas.96.9.5268

Cited by 455 publications

(378 citation statements)

References 52 publications

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“…SAI appears to correspond to Rose's (1928) granular insular areas (i7, i8, and i9). The cytoarchitecture of area LA and the location of the VENs in this area of anterior cingulate cortex are illustrated in von Economo (2009) and Nimchinsky et al (1995Nimchinsky et al ( , 1999.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In a comparative study of the distribution of the VENs in LA in primates, Nimchinsky et al (1999) found them to be present in all the great apes (chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas, and orangutans), but not in any other non-human primates. In this study, the VENs declined in abundance with increasing phylogenetic distance from humans, with bonobos and chimpanzees having more than gorillas, which in turn had more than orangutans, which had only a few isolated VENs.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The VENs are projection neurons and are substantially larger than their pyramidal cell neighbors (Nimchinsky et al 1999;Allman et al 2001). They possess a single large basal dendrite, distinguishing them from pyramidal neurons, which have an array of smaller basal dendrites (Watson et al 2006).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The von Economo neurons in frontoinsular and anterior cingulate cortex in great apes and humans

et al. 2010

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The von Economo neurons (VENs) are large bipolar neurons located in frontoinsular (FI) and anterior cingulate cortex in great apes and humans, but not other primates. We performed stereological counts of the VENs in FI and LA (limbic anterior, a component of anterior cingulate cortex) in great apes and in humans. The VENs are more numerous in humans than in apes, although one gorilla approached the lower end of the human range. We also examined the ontological development of the VENs in FI and LA in humans. The VENs first appear in small numbers in the 36th week post-conception, are rare at birth, and increase in number during the first 8 months after birth. There are significantly more VENs in the right hemisphere than in the left in FI and LA in postnatal brains of apes and humans. This asymmetry in VEN numbers may be related to asymmetries in the autonomic nervous system. The activity of the inferior anterior insula, which contains FI, is related to physiological changes in the body, decisionmaking, error recognition, and awareness. The VENs appear to be projection neurons, although their targets are unknown. We made a preliminary study of the connections of FI cortex based on diffusion tensor imaging in the brain of a gorilla. The VEN-containing regions connect to the frontal pole as well as to other parts of frontal and insular cortex, the septum, and the amygdala. It is likely that the VENs in FI are projecting to some or all of these structures and relaying information related to autonomic control, decision-making, or awareness. The VENs selectively express the bombesin peptides neuromedin B (NMB) and gastrin releasing peptide (GRP) which are also expressed in another population of closely related neurons, the fork cells. NMB and GRP signal satiety. The genes for NMB and GRP are expressed selectively in small populations of neurons in the insular cortex in mice. These populations may be related to the VEN and fork cells and may be involved in the regulation of appetite. The loss of these cells may be related to the loss of satiety signaling in patients with frontotemporal dementia who have damage to FI. The VENs and fork cells may be morphological specializations of an ancient population of neurons involved in the control of appetite present in the insular cortex in all mammals. We found that the protein encoded by the gene DISC1 (disrupted in schizophrenia) is preferentially expressed by the VENs. DISC1 has undergone rapid evolutionary change in the line leading to humans, and since it suppresses dendritic branching it may be involved in the distinctive VEN morphology.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The von Economo neurons in frontoinsular and anterior cingulate cortex in great apes and humans

et al. 2010

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“…It could be that the cingulate response reflects neural synchronization [55] or synaptic events, detectable through EEG or fMRI (the techniques usually applied in humans), but not evident at the level of single-unit spike trains (as collected from monkeys). Furthermore, there are cytoarchitectonic differences between human and monkey ACC [56], which make it plausible that functional differences also exist.…”

Section: Localization Of the Conflict Responsementioning

confidence: 99%

Conflict monitoring and anterior cingulate cortex: an update

Botvinick

Cohen

Carter

2004

Trends in Cognitive Sciences

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“…In this context, one may guess that a certain degree of depressiveness may be of evolutionary advantage. Interestingly, some of the involved brain regions may represent specific emotion expectation processing in humans as parts of the ventromedial thalamus were found to be more prominent in humans compared to lower primates, and certain cytological features in anterior insula and ACC were found only in humans but not in primates (Nimchinsky et al, 1999;Craig, 2002).…”

Section: Anatomical and Functional Features Of The Revealed Areasmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neural correlates of a ‘pessimistic’ attitude when anticipating events of unknown emotional valence

et al. 2007

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Since we do not know what future holds for us, we prepare for expected emotional events in order to deal with a pleasant or threatening environment. From an evolutionary perspective, it makes sense to be particularly prepared for the worst-case scenario. We were interested to evaluate whether this assumption is reflected in the central nervous information processing associated with expecting visual stimuli of unknown emotional valence. While being scanned with functional magnetic resonance imaging, healthy subjects were cued to expect and then perceive visual stimuli with a known emotional valence as pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral, as well as stimuli of unknown valence that could have been either pleasant or unpleasant. While anticipating pictures of unknown valence, the activity of emotion processing brain areas was similar to activity associated with expecting unpleasant pictures, but there were no areas in which the activity was similar to the activity when expecting pleasant pictures. The activity of the revealed regions, including bilateral insula, right inferior frontal gyrus, medial thalamus, and red nucleus, further correlated with the individual ratings of mood: the worse the mood, the higher the activity. These areas are supposedly involved in a network for internal adaptation and preparation processes in order to act according to potential or certain unpleasant events. Their activity appears to reflect a 'pessimistic' bias by anticipating the events of unknown valence to be unpleasant.

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A neuronal morphologic type unique to humans and great apes

Cited by 455 publications

References 52 publications

The von Economo neurons in frontoinsular and anterior cingulate cortex in great apes and humans

The von Economo neurons in frontoinsular and anterior cingulate cortex in great apes and humans

Conflict monitoring and anterior cingulate cortex: an update

Neural correlates of a ‘pessimistic’ attitude when anticipating events of unknown emotional valence

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