Von Economo Neurons in the Elephant Brain

Hakeem, Atiya Y.; Sherwood, Chet C.; Bonar, Christopher J.; Butti, Camilla; Hof, Patrick R.; Allman, John M.

doi:10.1002/ar.20829

Cited by 142 publications

(124 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…Instead it appears to be related to absolute brain size. The VENs are present in primates with adult brain sizes greater than about 300 g. They are also present in the apparent homologs of FI and LA in other mammals with very large brains, such as cetaceans and elephants (Hof and Van der Gucht 2007;Butti et al 2009;Hakeem et al 2009). Nearly all of these mammals are also highly social.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

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: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

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

et al. 2010

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“…However, such 'von Economo cells' have recently been found in some cetaceans and in elephants as well, but not consistently in all largebrained mammals [44,51]. Whether this mosaic existence of 'von Economo cells' is owing to independent evolution or, when absent, to secondary loss, is unclear, as is their specific significance for cognition [52].…”

Section: Specialties Of the Cytoarchitecture Of The Mammalian Cortexmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neuronal factors determining high intelligence

Dicke¹,

Roth²

2016

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

146

107

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One contribution of 16 to a discussion meeting issue 'Homology and convergence in nervous system evolution'. Many attempts have been made to correlate degrees of both animal and human intelligence with brain properties. With respect to mammals, a much-discussed trait concerns absolute and relative brain size, either uncorrected or corrected for body size. However, the correlation of both with degrees of intelligence yields large inconsistencies, because although they are regarded as the most intelligent mammals, monkeys and apes, including humans, have neither the absolutely nor the relatively largest brains. The best fit between brain traits and degrees of intelligence among mammals is reached by a combination of the number of cortical neurons, neuron packing density, interneuronal distance and axonal conduction velocity-factors that determine general information processing capacity (IPC), as reflected by general intelligence. The highest IPC is found in humans, followed by the great apes, Old World and New World monkeys. The IPC of cetaceans and elephants is much lower because of a thin cortex, low neuron packing density and low axonal conduction velocity. By contrast, corvid and psittacid birds have very small and densely packed pallial neurons and relatively many neurons, which, despite very small brain volumes, might explain their high intelligence. The evolution of a syntactical and grammatical language in humans most probably has served as an additional intelligence amplifier, which may have happened in songbirds and psittacids in a convergent manner.

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“…Most studies have concerned elephant social behavior and interactions with the environment without subjecting the species to the controlled experiments needed to map their brainpower. The 4-kg elephant brain is remarkably complex, and in many ways, mirrors our own (14,15). Recent studies put elephant social complexity on a par with that of the great apes, including findings of their capacities for mirror self-recognition, cooperation, empathy, and problem-solving (16)(17)(18)(19)(20).…”

Section: Mccomb Etmentioning

confidence: 99%