Fiber anatomy of dorsal and ventral language streams

Abstract

Recent advances in neuroimaging have led to new insights into the organization of language related networks. Increasing evidence supports the model of dorsal and ventral streams of information flow between language-related areas. Therefore, a review of the descriptions of language-related fiber anatomy in the human and monkey brain was performed. In addition, case studies of macroscopical fiber dissection and polarized light imaging (PLI) with special focus on the ventral stream were done. Several fiber structures can be identified to play a role in language, i.e. the arcuate fasciculus as a part of the superior longitudinal fasciculus, the middle longitudinal fasciculus, the inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus, and extreme and external capsules. Substantial differences between human and monkey fiber architecture have been identified. Despite inconsistencies based on different terminologies used, there can be no doubt that dorsal and ventral language streams have a clear correlation in the structure of white matter tracts.

Keywords: Arcuate fasciculus; Connectivity; Extreme capsule fiber system; Inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus; Middle longitudinal fascicle.