The primary motor area (M1) of mammals has long been considered to be structurally and functionally homogeneous. This area corresponds to Brodmann's cytoarchitectural area 4. A few reports showing that arm and hand are doubly represented in M1 of macaque monkeys and perhaps man, and that each subarea has separate connections from somatosensory areas, have, with a few exceptions, gone largely unnoticed. Here we show that area 4 in man can be subdivided into areas '4 anterior' (4a) and '4 posterior' (4p) on the basis of both quantitative cytoarchitecture and quantitative distributions of transmitter-binding sites. We also show by positron emission tomography that two representations of the fingers exist, one in area 4a and one in area 4p. Roughness discrimination activated area 4p significantly more than a control condition of self-generated movements. We therefore suggest that the primary motor area is subdivided on the basis of anatomy, neurochemistry and function.

objective: To investigate any correlation between BMI and brain gray matter volume, we analyzed 1,428 healthy Japanese subjects by applying volumetric analysis and voxel-based morphometry (VBM) using brain magnetic resonance (MR) imaging, which enables a global analysis of brain structure without a priori identification of a region of interest. Methods and Procedures:We collected brain MR images from 690 men and 738 women, and their height, weight, and other clinical information. The collected images were automatically normalized into a common standard space for an objective assessment of neuroanatomical correlations in volumetric analysis and VBM with BMI. Results: Volumetric analysis revealed a significant negative correlation in men (P < 0.001, adjusting for age, lifetime alcohol intake, history of hypertension, and diabetes mellitus), although not in women, between BMI and the gray matter ratio, which represents the percentage of gray matter volume in the intracranial volume. VBM revealed that, in men, the regional gray matter volume of the bilateral medial temporal lobes, anterior lobe of the cerebellum, occipital lobe, frontal lobe, precuneus, and midbrain showed significant negative correlations with BMI, while those of the bilateral inferior frontal gyri, posterior lobe of the cerebellum, frontal lobes, temporal lobes, thalami, and caudate heads showed significant positive correlations with BMI. Discussion: Global loss and regional alterations in gray matter volume occur in obese male subjects, suggesting that male subjects with a high BMI are at greater risk for future declines in cognition or other brain functions.

It has been known for over 45 years that electrical stimulation of the midbrain reticular formation and of the thalamic intralaminar nuclei of the brain alerts animals. However, lesions of these sectors fail to impair arousal and vigilance in some cases, making the role of the ascending activating reticular system controversial. Here, a positron emission tomographic study showed activation of the midbrain reticular formation and of thalamic intralaminar nuclei when human participants went from a relaxed awake state to an attention-demanding reaction-time task. These results confirm the role of these areas of the brain and brainstem in arousal and vigilance.

The aim of this study was to examine structural brain networks using regional gray matter volume, as well as to investigate changes in small-world and modular organization with normal aging. We constructed structural brain networks composed of 90 regions in young, middle, and old age groups. We randomly selected 350 healthy subjects for each group from a Japanese magnetic resonance image database. Structural brain networks in three age groups showed economical small-world properties, providing high global and local efficiency for parallel information processing at low connection cost. The small-world efficiency and node betweenness varied significantly and revealed a U- or inverted U-curve model tendency among three age groups. Results also demonstrated that structural brain networks exhibited a modular organization in which the connections between regions are much denser within modules than between them. The modular organization of structural brain networks was similar between the young and middle age groups, but quite different from the old group. In particular, the old group showed a notable decrease in the connector ratio and the intermodule connections. Combining the results of small-world efficiency, node betweenness and modular organization, we concluded that the brain network changed slightly, developing into a more distributed organization from young to middle age. The organization eventually altered greatly, shifting to a more localized organization in old age. Our findings provided quantitative insights into topological principles of structural brain networks and changes related to normal aging.

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To determine the relationship between age and gray matter structure and how interactions between gender and hemisphere impact this relationship, we examined correlations between global or regional gray matter volume and age, including interactions of gender and hemisphere, using a general linear model with voxel-based and region-of-interest analyses. Brain magnetic resonance images were collected from 1460 healthy individuals aged 20–69 years; the images were linearly normalized and segmented and restored to native space for analysis of global gray matter volume. Linearly normalized images were then non-linearly normalized and smoothed for analysis of regional gray matter volume. Analysis of global gray matter volume revealed a significant negative correlation between gray matter ratio (gray matter volume divided by intracranial volume) and age in both genders, and a significant interaction effect of age × gender on the gray matter ratio. In analyzing regional gray matter volume, the gray matter volume of all regions showed significant main effects of age, and most regions, with the exception of several including the inferior parietal lobule, showed a significant age × gender interaction. Additionally, the inferior temporal gyrus showed a significant age × gender × hemisphere interaction. No regional volumes showed significant age × hemisphere interactions. Our study may contribute to clarifying the mechanism(s) of normal brain aging in each brain region.

We examined which motor areas would participate in the coding of a simple opposition of the thumb triggered by auditory, somatosensory and visual signals. We tested which motor areas might be active in response to all three modalities, which motor structures would be activated specifically in response to each modality, and which neural populations would be involved in the speed of the reaction. The subjects were required to press a button with their right thumb as soon as they detected a change in the sensory signal. The regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) was measured quantitatively with (15)O-butanol and positron emission tomography (PET) in nine normal male subjects. Cytoarchitectural areas were delimited in 10 post mortem brains by objective and quantitative methods. The images of the post mortem brains subsequently were transformed into standard anatomic format. One PET scanning for each of the sensory modalities was done. The control condition was rest with the subjects having their eyes closed. The rCBF images were anatomically standardized, and clusters of significant changes in rCBF were identified. These were localized to motor areas delimited on a preliminary basis, such as supplementary motor area (SMA), dorsal premotor zone (PMD), rostral cingulate motor area (CMAr), and within areas delimited by using microstructural i.e., cytoarchitectonic criteria, such as areas 4a, 4p, 3a, 3b, and 1. Fields of activation observed as a main effect for all three modalities were located bilaterally in the SMA, CMAr, contralateral PMD, primary motor (M1), and primary somatosensory cortex (SI). The activation in M1 engaged areas 4a and 4p and expanded into area 6. The activation in SI engaged areas 3b, 1, and extended into somatosensory association areas and the supramarginal gyrus posteriorly. We identified significant activations that were specific for each modality in the respective sensory association cortices, though no modality specific regions were found in the motor areas. Fields in the anterior cingulate cortex, rostral to the CMAr, consistently showed significant negative correlation with mean reaction time (RT) in all three tasks. These results show that simple reaction time tasks activate many subdivisions of the motor cortices. The information from different sensory modalities converge onto the common structures: the contralateral areas 4a, 4p, 3b, 1, the PMD, and bilaterally on the SMA and the CMAr. The anterior cingulate cortex might be a key structure which determine the speed of reaction in simple RT tasks.