Functional and anatomical connectivity‐based parcellation of human cingulate cortex

Abstract

IntroductionHuman cingulate cortex (CC) has been implicated in many functions, which is highly suggestive of the existence of functional subregions.MethodsIn this study, we used resting‐state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs‐fMRI) and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to parcellate the human cingulate cortex (CC) based on resting‐state functional connectivity (rsFC) patterns and anatomical connectivity (AC) patterns, to analyze the rsFC patterns and the AC patterns of different subregions, and to recognize whether the parcellation results obtained by the two different methods were consistent.ResultsThe CC was divided into six functional subregions, including the anterior cingulate cortex, dorsal anterior midcingulate cortex, ventral anterior midcingulate cortex, posterior midcingulate cortex, dorsal posterior cingulate cortex, and ventral posterior cingulate cortex. The CC was also divided into ten anatomical subregions, termed Subregion 1 (S1) to Subregion 10 (S10). Each subregion showed specific connectivity patterns, although the functional subregions and the anatomical subregions were internally consistent.ConclusionsUsing different model MRI images, we established a parcellation scheme, which is internally consistent for the human CC, which may provide an in vivo guide for subregion‐level studies and improve our understanding of this brain area at subregional levels.

Anodal Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation of Anterior Cingulate Cortex Modulates Subcortical Brain Regions Resulting in Cognitive Enhancement

“…Furthermore, in our study, the ROIs were selected based on the AAL template (Tzourio-Mazoyer et al, 2002 ; Rolls et al, 2015 ), which parcellates the cingulate into fairly large anterior, mid, and posterior cingulate regions. A recent study proposed a cingulate parcellation scheme at the subregional level, which showed consistency of functional connectivity with anatomical subregions (Jin et al, 2018 ). Future stimulation-related studies may focus on small cingulate subregions, thus enhancing our understanding of stimulation's impact on cingulate subregional levels.…”

Cortical visual area CSv as a cingulate motor area: a sensorimotor interface for the control of locomotion

“…Several studies (Beckmann et al 2009 ; Yu et al 2011 ; Jin et al 2018 ) have examined the connectivity of the human cingulate regions with structural methods, in which diffusion-weighted MR images are used to track white-matter pathways, and/or resting state functional MRI, in which correlations in spontaneous activity at rest between brain regions are assumed to reflect connectivity. One recent study (Oane et al 2020 ) has even used intracranial stimulation to track cingulate connections.…”

“…The connectivity of this cluster was predominantly with parietal, motor and premotor cortex. Jin et al ( 2018 ) used both connectivity methods and described six clusters based on functional connectivity and ten based on structural connectivity. One of their structural clusters (S7) had a similar location to CSv.…”

Shared gray matter reductions across alcohol use disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder in the anterior cingulate cortex: A dual meta-analysis

“…A number of functional and anatomical parcellation studies suggest that subdivisions of the ACC and their patterns of connectivity may provide regional specialization to support this diverse array of functions (Balsters et al, 2016; Beckmann et al, 2009; Fan et al, 2016; Glasser et al, 2016; Jin et al, 2018; Neubert et al, 2015; Torta et al, 2013; Yu et al, 2011). Co-activation of dorsal versus rostral ACC and particular limbic structures may relate to their respective roles in the appraisal of emotion (e.g., dorsal ACC and anterior insula connectivity) versus more regulatory demands (e.g., rostral/ventral ACC and amygdala connectivity) (Dosenbach et al, 2006; Egner et al, 2007; Etkin et al, 2006, 2011; Giuliani et al, 2011; Seeley et al, 2007).…”