Constrained Spherical Deconvolution Tractography Reveals Cerebello-Mammillary Connections in Humans

According to the classical view, the cerebellum has long been confined to motor control physiology; however, it has now become evident that it exerts several non-somatic features other than the coordination of movement and is engaged also in the regulation of cognition and emotion. In a previous dif...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Cerebellum (London, England) England), 2017-04, Vol.16 (2), p.483-495
Main Authors: Cacciola, Alberto, Milardi, Demetrio, Calamuneri, Alessandro, Bonanno, Lilla, Marino, Silvia, Ciolli, Pietro, Russo, Margherita, Bruschetta, Daniele, Duca, Antonio, Trimarchi, Fabio, Quartarone, Angelo, Anastasi, Giuseppe
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Biomedicine
Cerebellum - diagnostic imaging
Female
Functional Laterality
Humans
Image Processing, Computer-Assisted
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male
Mammillary Bodies - diagnostic imaging
Memory
Neural Pathways - diagnostic imaging
Neurobiology
Neurology
Neurosciences
Orientation
Original Paper
Space Perception
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Summary:According to the classical view, the cerebellum has long been confined to motor control physiology; however, it has now become evident that it exerts several non-somatic features other than the coordination of movement and is engaged also in the regulation of cognition and emotion. In a previous diffusion-weighted imaging-constrained spherical deconvolution (CSD) tractography study, we demonstrated the existence of a direct cerebellum-hippocampal pathway, thus reinforcing the hypothesis of the cerebellar role in non-motor domains. However, our understanding of limbic-cerebellar interconnectivity in humans is rather sparse, primarily due to the intrinsic limitation in the acquisition of in vivo tracing. Here, we provided tractographic evidences of connectivity patterns between the cerebellum and mammillary bodies by using whole-brain CSD tractography in 13 healthy subjects. We found both ipsilateral and contralateral connections between the mammillary bodies, cerebellar cortex, and dentate nucleus, in line with previous studies performed in rodents and primates. These pathways could improve our understanding of cerebellar role in several autonomic functions, visuospatial orientation, and memory and may shed new light on neurodegenerative diseases in which clinically relevant impairments in navigational skills or memory may become manifest at early stages.
ISSN:1473-4222
1473-4230
DOI:10.1007/s12311-016-0830-9