Special issue: ReviewThe prefrontal cortex: Comparative architectonic organization in the human and the macaque monkey brains
Highlights
► We outline discrepancies in the human and macaque monkey prefrontal cortex maps. ► We then describe our comparative investigations to resolve these discrepancies. ► The findings enable translating of monkey research results to the human brain.
Section snippets
Architectonic correspondence issues in the dorsolateral frontal cortex of the macaque monkey and the human brain: the problem of areas 9, 46, and 9/46
In the macaque monkey, Walker (1940) labeled the highly granular cortex within and around the sulcus principalis as area 46. In the posterior end of the sulcus principalis, area 46 is replaced by area 8 and in the rostralmost end by area 10 (see Fig. 2B). This definition of area 46 in the macaque monkey has dominated the anatomical and physiological literature in the description of cortical connections and interpretation of the location of physiological recordings and excisions to examine
Architectonic correspondence issues in the ventrolateral frontal cortex of the macaque monkey and the human brain: the problem of areas 44, 45 and 47
Major discrepancies exist between the classical cytoarchitectonic maps of the human ventrolateral frontal cortex and those of the macaque monkey. In the map of the human brain by Brodmann (Fig. 1A), the ventral part of the precentral gyrus is occupied by areas 4 and 6. In front of premotor area 6, on the inferior frontal gyrus, three areas are identified: area 44 on the pars opercularis, area 45 on the pars triangularis, and part of area 47 on the pars orbitalis of the inferior frontal gyrus.
Conclusion
The studies reviewed above indicate that the basic organization of the frontal cortex cytoarchitecture in the human and macaque monkey brains, as well as the anatomical connectivity of the various architectonic areas that comprise it, is comparable. The macaque monkey cortex remains an excellent model to study in detail issues that arise in structural and functional investigations of the human brain. In addition, the experimental anatomical and physiological findings obtained in the macaque
Acknowledgments
The research was supported by NSERC Grant RGPIN 7466.
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