Spatial Distribution of Deep Sulcal Landmarks and Hemispherical Asymmetry on the Cortical Surface

Abstract

The locally deepest regions of major sulci, the sulcal pits, are thought to be the first cortical folds to develop and are closely related to functional areas. We examined the spatial distribution of sulcal pits across the entire cortical region, and assessed the hemispheric asymmetry in their frequency and distribution in a large group of normal adult brains. We automatically extracted sulcal pits from magnetic resonance imaging data using surface-based methods and constructed a group map from 148 subjects. The spatial distribution of the sulcal pits was relatively invariant between individuals, showing high frequency and density in specific focal areas. The left and right sulcal pits were spatially covariant in the regions of the earliest developed sulci. The sulcal pits with great spatial invariance appear to be useful as stable anatomical landmarks. We showed the most significant asymmetry in the frequency and spatial variance of sulcal pits in the superior temporal sulcus, which might be related to the lateralization of language function to the left hemisphere, developing more consistently and strongly than for the right. Our analyses support previous empirical and theoretical studies, and provide additional insights concerning the anatomical and functional development of the brain.

Sulcal Depth-Position Profile Is a Genetically Mediated Neuroscientific Trait: Description and Characterization in the Central Sulcus

“…Moreover, correlation of depth versus h 2 in the current sample was not convincing (R 2 ϭ 0.2; data not shown). Algorithms for computing sulcal similarity across subjects have proven useful for group-level analysis (Lohmann et al, 2008;Im et al, 2010Im et al, , 2011, but do not yield meaningful neuroscientific traits on a per subject basis. Use of such algorithms in small twin samples suggest that sulcal features, such as depth peaks or troughs, are ideal for comparing or normalizing variance across subjects, and that landmarks in the beds of sulci inform an organizational framework of the brain.…”

Structural asymmetries of perisylvian regions in the preterm newborn

“…It may represent the "sulcal roots" (Regis et al, 2005) from where the primary sulci fold (Lefèvre et al, 2009). In this perspective, it would be interesting to further compare the localization of our agerelated clusters in the preterm brain with the deepest sulcal pits identified in the adult brain (Im et al, 2010). Nevertheless, the huge differences in brain morphology between preterm newborns and adults would make the registration tough and problematic.…”

Cortical Folding of the Primate Brain: An Interdisciplinary Examination of the Genetic Architecture, Modularity, and Evolvability of a Significant Neurological Trait in Pedigreed Baboons (GenusPapio)

“…Prior to cross-domain matrix comparison, sulci were screened on the two hemispheres separately in case they exhibited different modular structures (Cheverud et al 1990;Hutchison and Cheverud 1992;Sun et al 2005;Im et al 2010), but both left and right sides displayed the same patterns. The two were thus centered and averaged to add to the sample size, reduce unnecessary noise, and maintain compatible dimensionality of all matrices for comparison.…”