Where is Cingulate Cortex? A Cross-Species View

Abstract

To compare findings across species, neuroscience relies on cross-species homologies, particularly in terms of brain areas. For cingulate cortex, a structure implicated in behavioural adaptation and control, a homologous definition across mammals is availablebut currently not employed by most rodent researchers. The standard partitioning of rodent cingulate cortex is inconsistent with that in any other model species, including humans. Reviewing the existing literature, we show that the homologous definition better aligns results of rodent studies with those of other species, and reveals a clearer structural and functional organisation within rodent cingulate cortex itself. Based on these insights, we call for widespread adoption of the homologous nomenclature, and reinterpretation of previous studies originally based on the nonhomologous partitioning of rodent cingulate cortex.

The Anterior Cingulate Cortex Predicts Future States to Mediate Model-Based Action Selection

“…Rodent rostral circulate is more densely interconnected with frontal regions involved in reward processing, including prelimbic, infralimbic, and orbital cortices and amygdala (Fillinger et al, 2017(Fillinger et al, , 2018. However, the recording location in Lee (2007, 2009) appears broadly homologous with that in our study (van Heukelum et al, 2020). Another possible reason is the tasks used, though as reward location is relevant to future choice in both, it is not obvious why reward representations should be different.…”

Chemogenetic Modulation and Single-Photon Calcium Imaging in Anterior Cingulate Cortex Reveal a Mechanism for Effort-Based Decisions

“…Reconstructions of viral spread confirmed that most placements were centered on the targeted region of area 24, in rat ACC ( van Heukelum et al, 2020 ). Results of histologic processing are shown in Figure 1 .…”

“…In the imaging experiment, the virus used was AAV9-CaMKIIα-GCaMP6f (Addgene). The coordinates used for the guide cannulae targeting area 24 of ACC ( van Heukelum et al, 2020 ) in the G i , G q , and GFP control experiments were as follows: AP 2.0 mm, ML ±0.7 mm, DV −1.9 mm from bregma. Four of 12 rats in the G i experiment received infusions in more anterior ACC (area 32) to compare with other laboratory experiments on decision confidence ( Stolyarova et al, 2019 ), at AP 3.7 mm, ML ±0.8 mm, DV −1.6 mm from bregma.…”

A Common Space Approach to Comparative Neuroscience

“…By necessity, many researchers therefore focus on a particular data type in a particular model species, leaving interpretation of the usefulness of their data to understanding other species, including the human, to their colleagues. This has led to numerous confusions in the literature about anatomical translatability (van Heukelum et al 2020) and even about the terminology used to describe behavioural tasks (Laubach et al 2018). Alarmingly, these confusions might contribute to the failure of many clinical trials in neuropsychiatry (Hay et al 2014).…”