Cited by 248Advanced Neuroimaging Techniques and ApplicationsVisual perception and processing mechanismsMedical and Biological Sciences

The anatomy of fronto-occipital connections from early blunt dissections to contemporary tractography

Forkel, Stephanie J., Thiebaut de Schotten, Michel, Kawadler, Jamie M., Dell'Acqua, Flavio, Danek, Adrian, Catani, Marco·2014·Cortex

Abstract

The occipital and frontal lobes are anatomically distant yet functionally highly integrated to generate some of the most complex behaviour. A series of long associative fibres, such as the fronto-occipital networks, mediate this integration via rapid feed-forward propagation of visual input to anterior frontal regions and direct top-down modulation of early visual processing. Despite the vast number of anatomical investigations a general consensus on the anatomy of fronto-occipital connections is not forthcoming. For example, in the monkey the existence of a human equivalent of the 'inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus' (iFOF) has not been demonstrated. Conversely, a 'superior fronto-occipital fasciculus' (sFOF), also referred to as 'subcallosal bundle' by some authors, is reported in monkey axonal tracing studies but not in human dissections. In this study our aim is twofold. First, we use diffusion tractography to delineate the in vivo anatomy of the sFOF and the iFOF in 30 healthy subjects and three acallosal brains. Second, we provide a comprehensive review of the post-mortem and neuroimaging studies of the fronto-occipital connections published over the last two centuries, together with the first integral translation of Onufrowicz's original description of a human fronto-occipital fasciculus (1887) and Muratoff's report of the 'subcallosal bundle' in animals (1893). Our tractography dissections suggest that in the human brain (i) the iFOF is a bilateral association pathway connecting ventro-medial occipital cortex to orbital and polar frontal cortex, (ii) the sFOF overlaps with branches of the superior longitudinal fasciculus (SLF) and probably represents an 'occipital extension' of the SLF, (iii) the subcallosal bundle of Muratoff is probably a complex tract encompassing ascending thalamo-frontal and descending fronto-caudate connections and is therefore a projection rather than an associative tract. In conclusion, our experimental findings and review of the literature suggest that a ventral pathway in humans, namely the iFOF, mediates a direct communication between occipital and frontal lobes. Whether the iFOF represents a unique human pathway awaits further ad hoc investigations in animals.

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Crossref · 10.1016/j.cortex.2012.09.005

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  • These different lateralization patterns within the IFOF subcomponents may partly explain the conflicting reports regarding the asymmetry of the IFOF.

    “These different lateralization patterns within the IFOF subcomponents may partly explain the conflicting reports regarding the asymmetry of the IFOF (Thiebaut de Schotten et al., 2011; Forkel et al., 2014).”
  • The definition of the course of the medial subcallosal fasciculus and periventricular white matter tracts and their cortical terminations are not yet available in any published tractography-based atlases of human brain connections.

    “Currently, the definition of the course of these tracts and their cortical terminations are not yet available in any of the published tractography-based atlases of human brain connections (see Forkel et al., 2014 for relevant discussion).”

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Authors
Forkel, S. J., Thiebaut de Schotten, M., Kawadler, J. M., Dell'Acqua, F., Danek, A., & Catani, M.
Affiliations
  • King's College London (GB)
  • Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (DE)
Corresponding author
Forkel, Stephanie J.
Venue
Cortex
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2014-07
Volume
56
Pages
73-84
ISSN
0010-9452 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W1978053752
Cited by
248
References
76
Citations by year
2026: 6 · 2025: 22 · 2024: 13 · 2023: 14 · 2022: 12 · 2021: 31 · 2020: 25 · 2019: 15 · 2018: 22 · 2017: 20 · 2016: 31 · 2015: 14 · 2014: 11 · 2013: 11
FWCI
8.69
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • Cortex (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • HAL (submittedVersion)
  • UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
  • Research Portal (King's College London) (submittedVersion)
  • Radboud Repository (Radboud University) (submittedVersion)
Funders
Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR-09-EMER-0006)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Imaging › Advanced Neuroimaging Techniques and Applications
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Visual perception and processing mechanisms
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Anatomy › Medical and Biological Sciences
Keywords
inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus, superior fronto-occipital fasciculus, superior longitudinal fasciculus, diffusion tractography, history of neuroanatomy, ventral stream
MeSH terms
Brain Mapping, Dissection, Frontal Lobe, Humans, Neural Pathways, Occipital Lobe, History, 19th Century, History, 20th Century, History, 21st Century, Neuroimaging

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