Anatomy of the limbic white matter tracts as revealed by fiber dissection and tractography.

Anatomy of the limbic white matter tracts as revealed by fiber dissection and tractography.

World Neurosurg. 2018 Feb 28;:

Authors: Pascalau R, Popa Stănilă R, Sfrângeu S, Szabo B

Abstract
BACKGROUND: The limbic tracts are involved in crucial cerebral functions such as memory, emotion and behavior. The complex architecture of the limbic circuit makes it harder to approach compared to other white matter networks. Our study aims to describe the three-dimensional anatomy of the limbic white matter by use of two complementary study methods, namely ex vivo fiber dissection and in vivo MRI based tractography.
METHODS: Three fiber dissection protocols were performed using blunt wooden instruments and a surgical microscope on formalin fixed brains prepared according to the Klingler method. Diffusion Tensor Imaging acquisitions were done using a 3 Tesla MR scanner on patients with head and neck pathology that did not involve the brain. Fiber tracking was performed with manually selected regions of interest.
RESULTS: Cingulum, fornix, the anterior thalamic peduncle, the accumbofrontal bundle, medial forebrain bundle, the uncinate fasciculus, the mammilothalamic tract, ansa peduncularis and stria terminalis were dissected and fiber tracked. For each tract, location, configuration, segmentation, dimensions, dissection and tractography particularities, anatomical relations and terminations are described. The limbic white matter tracts were systematized as two concentric rings around the thalamus. The inner ring is formed by fornix, mammillothalamic tract, ansa peduncularis, stria terminalis, accumbofrontal fasciculus and medial forebrain bundle and anterior thalamic peduncle and the outer ring is formed by cingulum and uncinate fasciculus.
CONCLUSIONS: This paper proposes a fiber tracking protocol for the limbic tracts inspired and validated by fiber dissection findings which can be routinely used in the clinical practice.

PMID: 29501514 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

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