Cited by 1,447Advanced Neuroimaging Techniques and ApplicationsAdvanced MRI Techniques and ApplicationsFunctional Brain Connectivity Studies

Mapping Human Cortical Areas In Vivo Based on Myelin Content as Revealed by T1- and T2-Weighted MRI

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Glasser, Matthew F., Van Essen, David C.·2011·The Journal of Neuroscience

Abstract

Noninvasively mapping the layout of cortical areas in humans is a continuing challenge for neuroscience. We present a new method of mapping cortical areas based on myelin content as revealed by T1-weighted (T1w) and T2-weighted (T2w) MRI. The method is generalizable across different 3T scanners and pulse sequences. We use the ratio of T1w/T2w image intensities to eliminate the MR-related image intensity bias and enhance the contrast to noise ratio for myelin. Data from each subject were mapped to the cortical surface and aligned across individuals using surface-based registration. The spatial gradient of the group average myelin map provides an observer-independent measure of sharp transitions in myelin content across the surface—i.e., putative cortical areal borders. We found excellent agreement between the gradients of the myelin maps and the gradients of published probabilistic cytoarchitectonically defined cortical areas that were registered to the same surface-based atlas. For other cortical regions, we used published anatomical and functional information to make putative identifications of dozens of cortical areas or candidate areas. In general, primary and early unimodal association cortices are heavily myelinated and higher, multimodal, association cortices are more lightly myelinated, but there are notable exceptions in the literature that are confirmed by our results. The overall pattern in the myelin maps also has important correlations with the developmental onset of subcortical white matter myelination, evolutionary cortical areal expansion in humans compared with macaques, postnatal cortical expansion in humans, and maps of neuronal density in non-human primates.

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Crossref · 10.1523/jneurosci.2180-11.2011

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  • Myelin maps for HCP subjects are generally higher quality than those originally reported, owing to higher spatial resolution and algorithmic improvements.

    “In general, the myelin maps for this and the other HCP subjects are higher in quality than those originally reported (Glasser et al., 2011), thanks to the higher spatial resolution (0.7 vs 1 mm isotropic voxels) coupled with several algorithmic improvements (Glasser et al., 2013a,b).”

    From The WU-Minn Human Connectome Project: An overview (2013) · cites this paper as Glasser et al., 2011

  • Cortical myelin maps can be extracted from structural images by computing the T1w/T2w ratio at each voxel and mapping it to the cortical surface.

    “Cortical myelin maps are another useful type of data that can be extracted from structural images by computing the ratio of the T1w and T2w image values at each voxel and mapping this ratio to the cortical surface (Glasser and Van Essen, 2011).”

    From The WU-Minn Human Connectome Project: An overview (2013) · cites this paper as Glasser and Van Essen, 2011

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Research works printed but not linked: 3

  1. Hopf A Über die Verteilung myeloarchitektonischer Merkmale in der Stirnhirnrinde beim Menschen J Hirnforsch 1956 2 311 333 13376888
  2. Hopf A Vitzthum HG Über die Verteilung myeloarchitektonischer Merkmale in der Scheitellappenrinde beim Menschen JOURNAL FÜR HIRNFORSCHUNG 1957 3 13475763
  3. Sled JG Zijdenbos AP Evans AC A nonparametric method for automatic correction of intensity nonuniformity in MRI data Medical Imaging, IEEE Transactions on 1998 17 87 97 9617910

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Authors
Glasser, M. F., & Van Essen, D. C.
Affiliations
Washington University in St. Louis (US)
Venue
The Journal of Neuroscience
Published
2011-08-10
Volume
31
Issue
32
Pages
11597-11616
ISSN
  • 0270-6474 (ISSN-L)
  • 1529-2401
OpenAlex
W1975821649
Cited by
1,447
References
143
Citations by year
2026: 114 · 2025: 146 · 2024: 137 · 2023: 124 · 2022: 138 · 2021: 141 · 2020: 142 · 2019: 75 · 2018: 102 · 2017: 75 · 2016: 65 · 2015: 65 · 2014: 33 · 2013: 60 · 2012: 23
FWCI
29.78
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Journal of Neuroscience (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Digital Commons@Becker (Washington University School of Medicine) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • Brigham and Women's Hospital
  • National Institutes of Health (NIH T32, 1s10rr022984-01a1, 1u54mh091657-01, 1U54‐MH‐091657, EB005149, MH071616)
  • National Institute of Mental Health (R01 MH60974, P50MH071616, MH056584, R01MH060974, 1U54-MH091657-01, U54-MH091657, MH071616, R01MH056584)
  • National Institute of General Medical Sciences (T32GM007200)
  • National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (U54EB005149)
  • National Center for Research Resources (S10 RR022984, P41RR013218, P41 RR13218, 1S10RR022984-01)
  • NIH Blueprint for Neuroscience Research (1U54-MH-091657)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Imaging › Advanced Neuroimaging Techniques and Applications
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Imaging › Advanced MRI Techniques and Applications
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Functional Brain Connectivity Studies
Keywords
myelin content, surface registration, association cortex, white matter myelination, cortical expansion, neuronal density, human brain atlas
MeSH terms
Adolescent, Adult, Brain Mapping, Cerebral Cortex, Female, Humans, Image Processing, Computer-Assisted, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Middle Aged, Myelin Sheath, Nerve Fibers, Myelinated, Young Adult

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