title: Monkey to human comparative anatomy of the frontal lobe association tracts.
abstract: The greater expansion of the frontal lobes along the phylogeny scale has been interpreted as the signature of evolutionary changes underlying higher cognitive abilities in humans functions in humans. However, it is unknown how an increase in number of gyri, sulci and cortical areas in the frontal lobe have coincided with a parallel increase in connectivity. Here, using advanced tractography based on spherical deconvolution, we produced an atlas of human frontal association connections that we compared with axonal tracing studies of the monkey brain. We report several similarities between human and monkey in the cingulum, uncinate, superior longitudinal fasciculus, frontal aslant tract and orbito-polar tract. These similarities suggest to preserved functions across anthropoids. In addition, we found major differences in the arcuate fasciculus and the inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus. These differences indicate possible evolutionary changes in the connectional anatomy of the frontal lobes underlying unique human abilities.
authors.affiliation: Natbrainlab, Department of Forensic and Neurodevelopmental Sciences, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, UK. michel.thiebaut@gmail.com
authors.forename: Michel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Thiebaut de Schotten
authors.forename: Flavio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Dell'Acqua
authors.forename: Romain
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Valabregue
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Catani
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000465:Algorithms; D000818:Animals; D001271:Atlases as Topic; D001369:Axons / Q000502:physiology; D005075:Biological Evolution; D001931:Brain Mapping; D016208:Databases, Factual; D056324:Diffusion Tensor Imaging; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008253:Macaca mulatta; D008297:Male; D009412:Nerve Fibers / Q000502:physiology; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000502:physiology; D013045:Species Specificity