A Proposed Human Structural Brain Connectivity Matrix in the Center for Morphometric Analysis Harvard-Oxford Atlas Framework: A Historical Perspective and Future Direction for Enhancing the Precision of Human Structural Connectivity with a Novel Neuroanatomical Typology

Abstract

A complete structural definition of the human nervous system must include delineation of its wiring diagram (e.g., Swanson LW. Brain architecture: understanding the basic plan, 2012). The complete formulation of the human brain circuit diagram (BCD [Front Neuroanat. 2020;14:18]) has been hampered by an inability to determine connections in their entirety (i.e., not only pathway stems but also origins and terminations). From a structural point of view, a neuroanatomic formulation of the BCD should include the origins and terminations of each fiber tract as well as the topographic course of the fiber tract in three dimensions. Classic neuroanatomical studies have provided trajectory information for pathway stems and their speculative origins and terminations [Dejerine J and Dejerine-Klumpke A. Anatomie des Centres Nerveux, 1901; Dejerine J and Dejerine-Klumpke A. Anatomie des Centres Nerveux: Méthodes générales d'étude-embryologie-histogénèse et histologie. Anatomie du cerveau, 1895; Ludwig E and Klingler J. Atlas cerebri humani, 1956; Makris N. Delineation of human association fiber pathways using histologic and magnetic resonance methodologies; 1999; Neuroimage. 1999 Jan;9(1):18-45]. We have summarized these studies previously [Neuroimage. 1999 Jan;9(1):18-45] and present them here in a macroscale-level human cerebral structural connectivity matrix. A matrix in the present context is an organizational construct that embodies anatomical knowledge about cortical areas and their connections. This is represented in relation to parcellation units according to the Harvard-Oxford Atlas neuroanatomical framework established by the Center for Morphometric Analysis at Massachusetts General Hospital in the early 2000s, which is based on the MRI volumetrics paradigm of Dr. Verne Caviness and colleagues [Brain Dev. 1999 Jul;21(5):289-95]. This is a classic connectional matrix based mainly on data predating the advent of DTI tractography, which we refer to as the "pre-DTI era" human structural connectivity matrix. In addition, we present representative examples that incorporate validated structural connectivity information from nonhuman primates and more recent information on human structural connectivity emerging from DTI tractography studies. We refer to this as the "DTI era" human structural connectivity matrix. This newer matrix represents a work in progress and is necessarily incomplete due to the lack of validated human connectivity findings on origins and terminations as well as pathway stems. Importantly, we use a neuroanatomical typology to characterize different types of connections in the human brain, which is critical for organizing the matrices and the prospective database. Although substantial in detail, the present matrices may be assumed to be only partially complete because the sources of data relating to human fiber system organization are limited largely to inferences from gross dissections of anatomic specimens or extrapolations of pathway tracing information from nonhuman primate experiments [Front Neuroanat. 2020;14:18, Front Neuroanat. 2022;16:1035420, and Brain Imaging Behav. 2021;15(3):1589-1621]. These matrices, which embody a systematic description of cerebral connectivity, can be used in cognitive and clinical studies in neuroscience and, importantly, to guide research efforts for further elucidating, validating, and completing the human BCD [Front Neuroanat. 2020;14:18].

Keywords: Diffusion tensor imaging; Harvard-Oxford Atlas; Human; MRI; Structural brain connectivity matrix.