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. 2010 Nov;20(11):2636-46.
doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhq011. Epub 2010 Feb 12.

Dissociable connectivity within human angular gyrus and intraparietal sulcus: evidence from functional and structural connectivity

Lucina Q Uddin  1 , Kaustubh Supekar, Hitha Amin, Elena Rykhlevskaia, Daniel A Nguyen, Michael D Greicius, Vinod Menon
Affiliations

Dissociable connectivity within human angular gyrus and intraparietal sulcus: evidence from functional and structural connectivity

Lucina Q Uddin et al. Cereb Cortex. 2010 Nov.

Abstract

The inferior parietal lobule (IPL) of the human brain is a heterogeneous region involved in visuospatial attention, memory, and mathematical cognition. Detailed description of connectivity profiles of subdivisions within the IPL is critical for accurate interpretation of functional neuroimaging studies involving this region. We separately examined functional and structural connectivity of the angular gyrus (AG) and the intraparietal sulcus (IPS) using probabilistic cytoarchitectonic maps. Regions-of-interest (ROIs) included anterior and posterior AG subregions (PGa, PGp) and 3 IPS subregions (hIP2, hIP1, and hIP3). Resting-state functional connectivity analyses showed that PGa was more strongly linked to basal ganglia, ventral premotor areas, and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, while PGp was more strongly connected with ventromedial prefrontal cortex, posterior cingulate, and hippocampus-regions comprising the default mode network. The anterior-most IPS ROIs, hIP2 and hIP1, were linked with ventral premotor and middle frontal gyrus, while the posterior-most IPS ROI, hIP3, showed connectivity with extrastriate visual areas. In addition, hIP1 was connected with the insula. Tractography using diffusion tensor imaging revealed structural connectivity between most of these functionally connected regions. Our findings provide evidence for functional heterogeneity of cytoarchitectonically defined subdivisions within IPL and offer a novel framework for synthesis and interpretation of the task-related activations and deactivations involving the IPL during cognition.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Functional connectivity of PG subdivisions. (a) ROIs derived from cytoarchitectonic maps for PGa (yellow) and PGp (red). (b) Functional connectivity map associated with anterior AG (PGa) source ROI in the left hemisphere. The color yellow represents voxels correlated with the source ROI, colored to match the ROI itself. Group-level maps were thresholded at P < 0.001 FWE, cluster threshold of 100 voxels. (c) Functional connectivity map associated with posterior AG (PGp) source ROI in the left hemisphere. The color red represents voxels correlated with the source ROI, colored to match the ROI itself. Group-level maps were thresholded at P < 0.001 FWE, cluster threshold of 100 voxels.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Functional connectivity of hIP subdivisions. (a) ROIs derived from cytoarchitectonic maps for hIP1 (red), hIP2 (blue), and hIP3 (green). (b) Functional connectivity map associated with hIP1 source ROI in the left hemisphere. The color red represents voxels correlated with the source ROI, colored to match the ROI itself. Group-level maps were thresholded at P < 0.001 FWE, cluster threshold of 100 voxels. (c) Functional connectivity map associated with hIP2 source ROI in the left hemisphere. The color blue represents voxels correlated with the source ROI, colored to match the ROI itself. Group-level maps were thresholded at P < 0.001 FWE, cluster threshold of 100 voxels. d. Functional connectivity map associated with hIP3 source ROI in the left hemisphere. The color green represents voxels correlated with the source ROI, colored to match the ROI itself. Group-level maps were thresholded at P < 0.001 FWE, cluster threshold of 100 voxels.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Comparison of functional connectivity between PG subdivisions. (a,c) Direct contrasts of functional connectivity maps associated with PGa and PGp ROIs, from ANOVA (FDR corrections at the whole brain level [P < 0.05 FDR and P < 0.05 FWE correction at the cluster level]). PGa was more strongly correlated with caudate, whereas PGp was more strongly correlated with hippocampus. (b,d) Bar graphs show t-scores within peak coordinates where the contrast maps overlapped with target ROIs (*P < 0.05, **P < 0.01).
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
Comparison of functional connectivity between hIP subdivisions. (a,c). Direct contrasts of functional connectivity maps associated with hIP2, hIP1, and hIP3 ROIs, from ANOVA (FDR corrections at the whole brain level [P < 0.05 FDR and P < 0.05 FWE correction at the cluster level]). hIP1 was more strongly correlated with inferior frontal cortex and insula, whereas hIP3 was more strongly correlated with superior occipital cortex. (b,d) Bar graphs show t-scores within peak coordinates where the contrast maps overlapped with target ROIs (*P < 0.05, **P < 0.01). Signal differences in the opercular regions of the inferior frontal cortex were mainly driven by hIP1 > hIP2, whereas signal differences in the triangular regions of the inferior frontal cortex were mainly driven by hIP1 > hIP3. Signal differences in superior occipital cortex were mainly driven by hIP3 > hIP1.
Figure 5.
Figure 5.
Structural connectivity of PG subdivisions. (a) DTI tractography and density of fibers between PGa and PGp and target AAL ROI hippocampus. PGp showed greater structural connectivity with hippocampus than did PGa (**P < 0.01). (b) DTI tractography and density of fibers between PGa and PGp and target AAL ROI caudate. PGa and PGp did not differ significantly in structural connectivity with caudate.
Figure 6.
Figure 6.
Structural connectivity of hIP subdivisions. (a) DTI tractography and density of fibers between hIP2, hIP1 and hIP3 and target AAL ROI inferior frontal opercular. Both hIP2 and hIP1 showed greater structural connectivity with inferior frontal opercular than did hIP3 (*P < 0.05, **P < 0.01). (b) DTI tractography and density of fibers between hIP2, hIP1, and hIP3 and target AAL ROI insula. hIP1 showed greater structural connectivity than hIP2 and hIP3 with insula (*P < 0.05, **P < 0.01). (c) DTI tractography and density of fibers between hIP2, hIP1, and hIP3 and target AAL ROI superior occipital cortex. hIP3 showed greater structural connectivity with superior occipital cortex than did hIP2 (**P < 0.01).
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