Hodology of the superior longitudinal system of the human brain: a historical perspective, the current controversies, and a proposal

Vavassori, Laura; Sarubbo, Silvio; Petit, Laurent

doi:10.1007/s00429-021-02265-0

Cited by 24 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 98 publications

(196 reference statements)

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“…From an anatomical and etymological perspective, the superior longitudinal fasciculus should be ascribed solely to fronto-parietal connections (i.e., “superior and longitudinal”; Thiebaut de Schotten et al 2011a , b ), whereas the arcuate fasciculus should be considered fronto-temporal connections (i.e., ‘arching’ around the Sylvian fissure; Catani et al 2005 ). Recent attempts have synthesized this literature, suggesting using the term superior longitudinal system (SLS) to include the arcuate fasciculus stricto sensu and the three branches of the SLFs in one multilobar fiber system (Mandonnet et al 2018 ; Vavassori et al 2021 ). Another controversy in the literature is the differentiation between the posterior segment of the arcuate fasciculus and the vertical occipital fasciculus (Martino and Garcia-Porrero 2013 ; Bartsch et al 2013 ; Bullock et al 2019 ; Weiner et al 2017 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Another example is the differential and synonymous use of the terminologies external capsule (Rilling et al 2012 ), external/extreme fiber complex (Mars et al 2016 ), inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus (Forkel et al 2014a , b ; Hau et al 2016 ), and inferior occipitofrontal fasciculus (Kier et al 2004 ). The difference in terminology is owed mainly to the description of these tracts using different methods (Forkel et al 2014a , b ) and some consensus is certainly needed to improve consistency in the literature (Maier-Hein et al 2017 ; Mandonnet et al 2018 ; Vavassori et al 2021 ). Another tract that appears under two terminologies in the literature is the medial occipital longitudinal tract (MOLT) relevant for visuospatial processing (Beyh et al 2021 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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White matter variability, cognition, and disorders: a systematic review

et al. 2021

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Inter-individual differences can inform treatment procedures and—if accounted for—have the potential to significantly improve patient outcomes. However, when studying brain anatomy, these inter-individual variations are commonly unaccounted for, despite reports of differences in gross anatomical features, cross-sectional, and connectional anatomy. Brain connections are essential to facilitate functional organization and, when severed, cause impairments or complete loss of function. Hence, the study of cerebral white matter may be an ideal compromise to capture inter-individual variability in structure and function. We reviewed the wealth of studies that associate cognitive functions and clinical symptoms with individual tracts using diffusion tractography. Our systematic review indicates that tractography has proven to be a sensitive method in neurology, psychiatry, and healthy populations to identify variability and its functional correlates. However, the literature may be biased, as the most commonly studied tracts are not necessarily those with the highest sensitivity to cognitive functions and pathologies. Additionally, the hemisphere of the studied tract is often unreported, thus neglecting functional laterality and asymmetries. Finally, we demonstrate that tracts, as we define them, are not correlated with one, but multiple cognitive domains or pathologies. While our systematic review identified some methodological caveats, it also suggests that tract–function correlations might still be a promising tool in identifying biomarkers for precision medicine. They can characterize variations in brain anatomy, differences in functional organization, and predicts resilience and recovery in patients.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

White matter variability, cognition, and disorders: a systematic review

et al. 2021

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“…‘arching’ around the Sylvian fissure; Catani et al, 2005). Recent attempts have synthesised this literature, suggesting using the term superior longitudinal system (SLS) to include the arcuate fasciculus stricto sensu and the three branches of the SLFs in one multilobar fibre system (Mandonnet et al, 2018; Vavassori et al, 2021). Another controversy in the literature is the differentiation between the posterior segment of the arcuate fasciculus and the vertical occipital fasciculus (Martino & Garcia-Porrero, 2013; Bartsch et al, 2013; Bullock et al, 2019; Weiner et al, 2017).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Another example is the differential and synonymous use of the terminologies external capsule (Rilling et al, 2012), external/extreme fibre complex (Mars et al, 2016), inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus (Forkel et al, 2014; Sarubbo et al, 2015), and inferior occipitofrontal fasciculus (Kier et al, 2004). The difference in terminology is owed mainly to the description of these tracts using different methods (Forkel et al, 2014) and some consensus is certainly needed to improve consistency in the literature (Maier-Hein et al, 2017; Mandonnet et al, 2018; Vavassori et al, 2021). Another tract that appears under two terminologies in the literature is the medial occipital longitudinal tract (MOLT) relevant for visuospatial processing (Beyh et al, preprint).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

White matter variability, cognition, and disorders: a systematic review

Forkel

Friedrich

Schotten

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Inter-individual differences can inform treatment procedures and - if accounted for - can significantly improve patient outcomes. However, when studying brain anatomy, these inter-individual variations are largely unaccounted for, despite reports of differences in gross anatomical features, cross-sectional and connectional anatomy. Brain connections are essential to mediate brain functional organisation and, when severed, cause functional impairments or complete loss of function. Hence the study of cerebral white matter may be an ideal compromise to capture inter-individual variability in structure and function. Here we reviewed the wealth of studies that associate functions and clinical symptoms with individual tracts using diffusion tractography. Our systematic review indicates that tractography has proven to be a sensitive method in neurology, psychiatry and healthy populations to identify variability and its functional correlates. However, the literature may be biased, as we identified that the most commonly reported tracts are not necessarily those with the highest sensitivity to cognitive functions and pathologies. Finally, we demonstrate that tracts, as we define them, are not usually correlated with only one, but rather multiple cognitive domains or pathologies. While our systematic review identified some methodological caveats, it also suggests that tract-function correlations might be a promising biomarker for precision medicine as it characterises variations in brain anatomy, differences in functional organisation and predict resilience or recovery in patients.

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“…In the first part of this review, we tackle a major challenge that confronts present-day researchers seeking to investigate the AF: There is currently poor consensus about the anatomical definition of the AF (e.g., where it terminates in the frontal and temporal lobes), and its nomenclature (e.g., whether it is considered part of, or distinct from the Superior Longitudinal Fasciculus (SLF) or Middle Longitudinal Fasciculus (MdLF)). This is primarily driven by the fact that, since its discovery, the methodologies used to study and delineate the AF (e.g., blunt dissections, diffusion MRI tractography, neural tract-tracing) have been constantly evolving, resulting in different descriptions and naming of the AF (e.g., Oliveira et al, 2021;Vavassori et al, 2021). As such, we start the current review with an overview of how the definition and nomenclature of the AF have evolved along with the emergence of different methodologies in the field.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Arcuate Fasciculus and language origins: Disentangling existing conceptions that influence evolutionary accounts

Becker

Loh

Coulon

et al. 2022

Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews

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The Arcuate Fasciculus (AF) is of considerable interdisciplinary interest, because of its major implication in language processing. Theories about language brain evolution are based on anatomical differences in the AF across primates. However, changing methodologies and nomenclatures have resulted in conflicting findings regarding interspecies AF differences: Historical knowledge about the AF originated from human blunt dissections and later from monkey tract-tracing studies. Contemporary tractography studies reinvestigate the fasciculus' morphology, but remain heavily bound to unclear anatomical priors and methodological limitations. First, we aim to disentangle the influences of these three epistemological steps on existing AF conceptions, and to propose a contemporary model to guide future work. Second, considering the influence of various AF conceptions, we discuss four key evolutionary changes that propagated current views about language evolution: 1) frontal terminations, 2) temporal terminations, 3) greater Dorsal-versus Ventral Pathway expansion, 4) lateralisation. We conclude that new data point towards a more shared AF anatomy across primates than previously described. Language evolution theories should incorporate this continuous AF evolution across primates.

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Hodology of the superior longitudinal system of the human brain: a historical perspective, the current controversies, and a proposal

Cited by 24 publications

References 98 publications

White matter variability, cognition, and disorders: a systematic review

White matter variability, cognition, and disorders: a systematic review

White matter variability, cognition, and disorders: a systematic review

The Arcuate Fasciculus and language origins: Disentangling existing conceptions that influence evolutionary accounts

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