Stereotaxic probabilistic maps of the magnocellular cell groups in human basal forebrain

Abstract

The basal forebrain contains several interdigitating anatomical structures, including the diagonal band of Broca, the basal nucleus of Meynert, the ventral striatum, and also cell groups underneath the globus pallidus that bridge the centromedial amygdala to the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis. Among the cell populations, the magnocellular, cholinergic corticopetal projection neurons have received particular attention due to their loss in Alzheimer's disease. In MRI images, the precise delineation of these structures is difficult due to limited spatial resolution and contrast. Here, using microscopic delineations in ten human postmortem brains, we present stereotaxic probabilistic maps of the basal forebrain areas containing the magnocellular cell groups. Cytoarchitectonic mapping was performed in silver stained histological serial sections. The positions and the extent of the magnocellular cell groups within the septum (Ch1-2), the horizontal limb of the diagonal band (Ch3), and in the sublenticular part of the basal forebrain (Ch4) were traced in high-resolution digitized histological sections, 3D reconstructed, and warped to the reference space of the MNI single subject brain. The superposition of the cytoarchitectonic maps in the MNI brain shows the intersubject variability of the various Ch compartments and their stereotaxic position relative to other brain structures. Both the right and left Ch4 regions showed significantly smaller volumes when age was considered as a covariate. Probabilistic maps of compartments of the basal forebrain magnocellular system are now available as an open source reference for correlation with fMRI, PET, and structural MRI data of the living human brain.

Neurocomputational mechanisms of prosocial learning and links to empathy

“…The sgACC region we identified as responding exclusively to prosocial PEs overlapped with a septal-anterior hypothalamic area that is part of the basal forebrain (43). Recent studies of sgACC function have found signals in this region relevant for social cognition and behavior including credit assignment (44), prosocial and moral behavior (6,16,45,46), the experience of positive affect (47), trust (48), social emotion (49), and vicarious reward (50,51).…”

Effects of Ncl. Basalis Meynert volume on the Trail‐Making‐Test are restricted to the left hemisphere

“…1999; Zaborszky et al. 2008). Both parts of the TMT, especially Part A, require visual search (Crowe 1998).…”

“…For a detailed description of the creation of the probabilistic map, we refer to Zaborszky et al. (2008). Ten brains of body donors with no record of neurological or psychiatric disease (five female, age range 37–75 years) were obtained at autopsy and fixed in formaldehyde or Bodian fixative.…”

“…Subsequently, the DARTEL Toolbox was applied to create a mean template from all images and calculate flow fields. DARTEL was run a second time to calculate the flow field needed to match the reference brain (http://www.bic.mni.mcgill.ca/ ServicesAtlases/Colin27) used by Zaborszky et al. to the template.…”

[P3–379]: Altered Functional Connectivity of the Basal Nucleus of Meynert in Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Resting‐state Fmri Study

“…The small volume and irregular border has impeded research of the BNM. Extant imaging studies have focused on volume changes in the BNM in association with MCI (Hanyu et al, 2002;Zaborszky et al, 2008;Grothe et al, 2012) with reduced volume extending into the whole BFCS in patient with AD (George et al, 2011;Grothe et al, 2013Grothe et al, , 2014, as compared with healthy aging (Kilimann et al, 2014). For instance, volume reduction of the BNM and temporal lobe structures was associated with impairment in delayed recall in MCI patients (Grothe et al, 2010).…”