Anterior commissure

Anterior commissure
Coronal cross-section of brain showing the anterior commissure. (left, third from bottom.)
Tractography of anterior commissure
Details
Identifiers
Latincommissura anterior
MeSHD066240
NeuroNames205, 390
NeuroLex IDbirnlex_1557
TA98A14.1.08.421
TA25613
FMA61961
Anatomical terms of neuroanatomy

The anterior commissure (also known as the precommissure) is a white matter tract (a bundle of axons) connecting the two temporal lobes of the cerebral hemispheres across the midline, and placed in front of the columns of the fornix. In most existing mammals, the great majority of fibers connecting the two hemispheres travel through the corpus callosum, which is over 10 times larger than the anterior commissure, and other routes of communication pass through the hippocampal commissure or, indirectly, via subcortical connections. Nevertheless, the anterior commissure is a significant pathway that can be clearly distinguished in the brains of all mammals.

The anterior commissure plays a key role in pain sensation, more specifically sharp, acute pain. It also contains decussating fibers from the olfactory tracts, vital for the sense of smell and chemoreception. The anterior commissure works with the posterior commissure to link the two cerebral hemispheres of the brain and also interconnects the amygdalae and temporal lobes, contributing to the role of memory, emotion, speech and hearing. It also is involved in olfaction, instinct, and sexual behavior.

In a sagittal section, the anterior commissure is oval in shape, having a long vertical axis that measures about 5 mm.

Structure

It interconnects multiple cortical regions of the temporal lobes, the amygdalae, and olfactory bulbs.[1] It is a part of the neospinothalamic tract for pain.

Function

Averaged tracking results of ten normal controls showing the anterior commissure. Image from Winter and Franz (2014)[2]

The functionality of the anterior commissure is still not completely understood. Researchers have implicated it in functions ranging from colour perception to attention. One such study supported colour perception in callosal agenesis (those born without a corpus callosum; Barr & Corballis, 2002).[3] Other studies have built on this to imply that the anterior commissure can be a compensatory pathway in those without a corpus callosum, presenting diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) techniques to better elucidate the anterior commissure and how it might be implicated in various functions (Winter & Franz, 2014).[2]

Sexuality

In 1992, Laura Allen and Roger Gorski of UCLA measured the anterior commissures of 30 homosexual men, 30 heterosexual men, and 30 heterosexual women. They found that all three groups' commissures were significantly different from one another, with homosexual males having the largest anterior commissure, followed by heterosexual women, and then heterosexual men, who had the smallest anterior commissures.[4]

In 1993, a review by Byne and Parsons criticized this research, noting that 27 of the 33 homosexual males fell within the range of heterosexual males in the study.[5]

A later report by Byne et al. (2001) noted that

We also measured the anterior commissure in the same blocks of tissue used for the present hypothalamic study (data not shown) and were unable to replicate a report (by Allen and Gorski) that its cross-sectional area is larger in women than in men.[6]

Also, a study by Lasco et al. (2002) said:

We examined the cross-sectional area of the AC in postmortem material from 120 individuals, and found no variation in the size of the AC with age, HIV status, sex, or sexual orientation.[7]

Other animals

The corpus callosum allows for communication between the two hemispheres and is found only in placental mammals (the eutherians), while it is absent in monotremes and marsupials, as well as other vertebrates such as birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish. The anterior commissure serves as the primary mode of interhemispheric communication in marsupials,[8][9] and which carries all the commissural fibers arising from the neocortex (also known as the neopallium), whereas in placental mammals the anterior commissure carries only some of these fibers).[10]

  • Anterior commissure
    Anterior commissure

See also

References

Public domain This article incorporates text in the public domain from page 840 of the 20th edition of Gray's Anatomy (1918)

  1. ^ Patestas, Maria A.; Gartner, Leslie P. (2016). A Textbook of Neuroanatomy (2nd ed.). Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 978-1-118-67746-9.
  2. ^ a b Winter T.; Franz E. (2014). "Implication of the anterior commissure in the allocation of attention to action". Front Psychol. 5 (432): 432. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00432. PMC 4032986. PMID 24904456.
  3. ^ Barr M.; Corballis M. (2002). "The role of the anterior commissure in callosal agenesis". Neuropsychology. 16 (4): 459–471. doi:10.1037/0894-4105.16.4.459. PMID 12382985.
  4. ^ Allen, LS; Gorski, RA (Aug 1, 1992). "Sexual orientation and the size of the anterior commissure in the human brain". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 89 (15): 7199–202. Bibcode:1992PNAS...89.7199A. doi:10.1073/pnas.89.15.7199. PMC 49673. PMID 1496013.
  5. ^ Byne W.; Parsons B. (1993). "Human sexual orientation: The biological theories reappraised". Archives of General Psychiatry. 50 (3): 228–239. doi:10.1001/archpsyc.1993.01820150078009. PMID 8439245.
  6. ^ Byne William; Tobet Stuart; Mattiace Linda A.; Lasco Mitchell S.; Kemether Eileen; Edgar Mark A.; Morgello Susan; Buchsbaum Monte S.; Jones Liesl B. (2001). "The Interstitial Nuclei of the Human Anterior Hypothalamus: An Investigation of Variation with Sex, Sexual Orientation, and HIV Status". Hormones and Behavior. 40 (2): 86–92. doi:10.1006/hbeh.2001.1680. PMID 11534967. S2CID 3175414.
  7. ^ Lasco MS, Jordan TJ, Edgar MA, Petito CK, Byne W., A lack of dimorphism of sex or sexual orientation in the human anterior commissure. Brain Res. 2002 May 17;936(1-2):95-8.
  8. ^ Ashwell, Ken (2010). The Neurobiology of Australian Marsupials: Brain Evolution in the Other Mammalian Radiation, p. 50
  9. ^ Armati, Patricia J., Chris R. Dickman, and Ian D. Hume (2006). Marsupials, p. 175
  10. ^ Butler, Ann B., and William Hodos (2005). Comparative Vertebrate Neuroanatomy: Evolution and Adaptation, p. 361
Wikimedia Commons logo
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Anterior commissure.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.