Cortical connections of the anterior (F5a) subdivision of the macaque ventral premotor area F5

Abstract

We traced the cortical connections of the anterior sector (F5a) of the macaque ventral premotor (PMv) area F5 and compared them with those of the adjacent F5 sectors, F5c and F5p. F5a displays a very dense "intrinsic" connectivity with F5c and F5p, premotor connections limited to F4 and F6/pre-SMA, relatively robust prefrontal connections with areas 46v and 12, and dense connections with rostral opercular frontal areas. Outside the frontal cortex, connections of F5a are dense with the SII region, relatively robust with inferior parietal areas PFG and AIP, weak with the inferior parietal area PF, and moderate with area 24. The comparison with data from injections in F5c and F5p showed that F5a, though sharing some common parietal connections with the other F5 sectors, displays several characterizing features providing robust evidence for its connectional distinctiveness. The present study provides evidence for a general organization of the PMv similar to that of the medial and dorsal premotor cortex, with F5a representing a pre-PMv area. Specifically, the present data suggest that F5a is a privileged site of integration, in the PMv, of parietal sensory-motor signals with higher-order information originating from prefrontal, rostral frontal opercular areas, and F6/pre-SMA. The results of this integration can be then broadcasted to the adjacent F5 sectors for the generation and control of hand actions and cognitive motor functions.

Selectivity for Three-Dimensional Shape and Grasping-Related Activity in the Macaque Ventral Premotor Cortex

“…Neurons selective for higher-order disparities were generally not active in the dark but frequently colocalized with visuomotor neurons. Consistent with the known anatomical connectivity (Gerbella et al, 2011), our results indicate that F5a can be considered a pre-premotor area involved in object grasping with a specific role in the visual analysis of 3D object properties.…”

“…Cytoarchitectonically, area F5 consists of F5p caudally, F5c on the convexity, and F5a anteriorly in the posterior bank of the inferior arcuate sulcus (Belmalih et al, 2009). Area F5a also has a distinct anatomical connectivity (Gerbella et al, 2011), characterized by strong connections with the prefrontal cortex (areas 46 and 12), posterior parietal area AIP (anterior intraparietal area), the SII region, and the other adjacent ventral premotor areas, but not with primary motor cortex, in contrast to the other F5 subdivisions. This pattern of anatomical connectivity suggests that F5a could be considered a prepremotor area, integrating parietal and prefrontal inputs and projecting to adjacent F5 sectors (Gerbella et al, 2011).…”

The motor way: Clinical implications of understanding and shaping actions with the motor system in autism and drug addiction

“…This hypothesis would be consistent with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) findings that have reported similar activations in the anterior section of the insula for the expression and recognition of disgust (Wicker et al, 2003). An additional intriguing point concerns the potential existence of an insulocortical circuit responsible for transmitting vitality form to the cortical circuit controlling motor actions, as was hypothesized by Di Cesare et al (2014) in line with both nonhuman and human studies (Borra et al, 2008;Gerbella, Belmalih, Borra, Rozzi, & Luppino, 2011;Rizzolatti et al, 2014).…”

Processing of Own Hand Visual Feedback during Object Grasping in Ventral Premotor Mirror Neurons

“…inferior parietal (Maeda et al, 2015) cortex, which are anatomically linked to area F5 Borra et al, 2008;Gerbella et al, 2011), suggesting that a wide system of interconnected areas is involved in the processing of HVF and others' observed actions.…”