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Cited by 129Advanced Neuroimaging Techniques and ApplicationsPrimate Behavior and EcologyNeurogenesis and neuroplasticity mechanisms

Different scaling of white matter volume, cortical connectivity, and gyrification across rodent and primate brains

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Ventura-Antunes, Lissa, Mota, Bruno, Herculano-Houzel, Suzana·2013·Frontiers in Neuroanatomy
DOI 10.3389/fnana.2013.00003PMC PMC3620553
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Abstract

Expansion of the cortical gray matter in evolution has been accompanied by an even faster expansion of the subcortical white matter volume and by folding of the gray matter surface, events traditionally considered to occur homogeneously across mammalian species. Here we investigate how white matter expansion and cortical folding scale across species of rodents and primates as the gray matter gains neurons. We find very different scaling rules of white matter expansion across the two orders, favoring volume conservation and smaller propagation times in primates. For a similar number of cortical neurons, primates have a smaller connectivity fraction and less white matter volume than rodents; moreover, as the cortex gains neurons, there is a much faster increase in white matter volume and in its ratio to gray matter volume in rodents than in primates. Order-specific scaling of the white matter can be attributed to different scaling of average fiber caliber and neuronal connectivity in rodents and primates. Finally, cortical folding increases as different functions of the number of cortical neurons in rodents and primates, scaling faster in the latter than in the former. While the neuronal rules that govern gray and white matter scaling are different across rodents and primates, we find that they can be explained by the same unifying model, with order-specific exponents. The different scaling of the white matter has implications for the scaling of propagation time and computational capacity in evolution, and calls for a reappraisal of developmental models of cortical expansion in evolution.

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  • Differences in cortical development between mice and humans limit the ability of mouse models to define mechanisms relevant to the human DS phenotype.

    “The field has typically relied on mouse models to gain understanding of the impact of T21, but differences in cortical development between mice and humans — including the complexity of progenitor types or the formation of a lissencephalic rather than gyrencephalic brain153–155 — limit their ability to define mechanisms relevant to the human phenotype.”

    From Consequences of trisomy 21 for brain development in Down syndrome (2024) · cites this paper as [155]

    The Discussion (page unavailable) describes mouse cortices as practically lissencephalic, and the Results and Discussion report different patterns of cortical folding in rodents and primates. The paper does not address progenitor-type complexity or establish that these differences limit mouse models’ ability to define mechanisms relevant to the human Down syndrome phenotype. (LLM, conf=0.85)

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1 of the 31 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Research works printed but not linked: 2

  1. Le Gros Clark W. (1945). Deformation patterns on the cerebral cortex, in Essays on Growth and Form, eds Le Gros Clark W. E. Medawar P. B. (Oxford: Oxford University Press), 1– 23
  2. Welker W. (1990). Why does cerebral cortex fissure and fold? A review of determinants of gyri and sulci, in Cerebral Cortex, Comparative structure and evolution of cerebral cortex, part II, Vol. 8B, eds Jones E. G. Peters A. (New York, NY: Plenum Press), 3– 136

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Authors
Ventura-Antunes, L., Mota, B., & Herculano-Houzel, S.
Affiliations
Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (BR)
ORCID
Mota, Bruno
Venue
Frontiers in Neuroanatomy
Publisher
Frontiers Media SA
Published
2013
Volume
7
Pages
3-3
ISSN
1662-5129 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.3389/fnana.2013.00003
PMC
PMC3620553
OpenAlex
W2044032178
Cited by
129
References
31
Citations by year
2026: 8 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 13 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 13 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 12 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 12 · 2016: 15 · 2015: 8 · 2014: 6 · 2013: 2
FWCI
8.02
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
cc-by
Locations
  • Frontiers in Neuroanatomy (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Funders
  • James S. McDonnell Foundation
  • Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior
  • Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico
  • Fundação Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Imaging › Advanced Neuroimaging Techniques and Applications
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Primate Behavior and Ecology
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Developmental Neuroscience › Neurogenesis and neuroplasticity mechanisms
Keywords
white matter volume, cortical folding, cortical connectivity, primate brain evolution, propagation time, cortical expansion, scaling exponents, brain evolution

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