The von Economo neurons in the frontoinsular and anterior cingulate cortex

The von Economo neurons (VENs) are large bipolar neurons located in the frontoinsular cortex (FI) and limbic anterior (LA) area in great apes and humans but not in other primates. Our stereological counts of VENs in FI and LA show them to be more numerous in humans than in apes. In humans, small num...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 2011-04, Vol.1225 (1), p.59-71
Main Authors: Allman, John M., Tetreault, Nicole A., Hakeem, Atiya Y., Manaye, Kebreten F., Semendeferi, Katerina, Erwin, Joseph M., Park, Soyoung, Goubert, Virginie, Hof, Patrick R.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Apes
autism
Biological Evolution
Brain
Cell Count
Cortexes
Dendritic structure
disgust
empathy
frontotemporal dementia
Growth and Development - physiology
Gyrus Cinguli - anatomy & histology
Gyrus Cinguli - cytology
Gyrus Cinguli - embryology
Gyrus Cinguli - growth & development
hemispheric specialization
Human
Humans
Imaging
Marine
Models, Biological
Monkeys & apes
Neurons
Neurons - cytology
Neurons - physiology
Primates
Primates - anatomy & histology
Primates - embryology
Primates - growth & development
schizophrenia
self-awareness
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The von Economo neurons (VENs) are large bipolar neurons located in the frontoinsular cortex (FI) and limbic anterior (LA) area in great apes and humans but not in other primates. Our stereological counts of VENs in FI and LA show them to be more numerous in humans than in apes. In humans, small numbers of VENs appear the 36th week postconception, with numbers increasing during the first 8 months after birth. There are significantly more VENs in the right hemisphere in postnatal brains; this may be related to asymmetries in the autonomic nervous system. VENs are also present in elephants and whales and may be a specialization related to very large brain size. The large size and simple dendritic structure of these projection neurons suggest that they rapidly send basic information from FI and LA to other parts of the brain, while slower neighboring pyramids send more detailed information. Selective destruction of VENs in early stages of frontotemporal dementia (FTD) implies that they are involved in empathy, social awareness, and self‐control, consistent with evidence from functional imaging.
ISSN:0077-8923
1749-6632
DOI:10.1111/j.1749-6632.2011.06011.x