Functional organization of the prefrontal cortex

前额叶联合皮质是与感知、记忆、智力、计划等相关的最高脑中枢。大脑皮层被进一步划分为许多区域。我们一直在研究这些区域的输入-输出排列，以阐明额叶皮质的功能组织。在本项目中，我们研究了扣带运动区输入到灵长类基底节的组织。扣带运动区位于扣带沟内，分为吻部和尾部。最近的研究表明，嘴扣带回运动区和尾扣带回运动区参与运动功能的不同方面：前者在运动的高级认知控制中发挥作用，而后者更直接地参与运动的执行。用不同的顺行示踪剂注射不同的顺行示踪剂，用…分析标记的终末的分布模式更多的在纹状体和丘脑底核。头侧和尾侧扣带回运动区的皮质纹状体输入位于吻侧纹状体，纹状体细胞桥和壳核腹外侧部的密度分别最高。这些输入区域之间没有实质性的重叠。类似地，沿着丘脑底核的内侧轴，从吻侧和尾侧扣带运动区分离出一定的输入区。我们还发现，来自头端扣带运动区的皮质纹状体和皮质下丘脑的输入区与来自补充前运动区的输入区有相当大的重叠，而来自尾侧扣带运动区的输入区与来自初级运动皮质的输入区有很大的重叠。目前的结果表明，平行设计主要是在起源于嘴和尾扣带运动区的皮质-基底节环中进行运动信息处理。较少

The prefrontal association cortex is the highest brain center related to perception, memory intelligence, planning, and so on. The cortex is further divided into many areas. We have been examining input-output arrangement of these areas to elucidate functional organization of the frontal cortex.In the present project we investigated the organization of cingulate motor areas inputs to the primate basal ganglia. The cingulate motor areas reside within regions lining the cingulate sulcus and are divided into rostral and caudal parts. Recent studies suggest that the rostral and caudal cingulate motor areas participate in distinct aspects of motor function : The former plays a role in higher-order cognitive control of movements, whereas the latter is more directly involved in their execution. Identified forelimb representations of the rostral and caudal cingulate motor areas were injected with different anterograde tracers, and the distribution patterns of labeled 'terminals were analyzed i … More n the striatum and the subthalamic nucleus. Corticostriatal inputs from the rostral and caudal cingulate motor areas were located within the rostral striatum, with the highest density in the striatal cell bridges or the ventrolateral portions of the putamen, respectively. There was no substantial overlap between these input zones. Similarly, a certain segregation of input zones from the rostral and caudal cingulate motor areas occurred along the mediolateral axis of the subthalamic nucleus. It has also been revealed that corticostriatal and corticosubthalamic input zones from the rostral cingulate motor area considerably overlapped those from the presupplementary motor area, while the input zones from the caudal cingulate motor area displayed a large overlap with those from the primary motor cortex. The present results indicate that a parallel design essentially underlies motor information processing in the cortico-basal ganglia loop derived from the rostral and caudal cingulate motor areas. Less