Plis de passage in the superior temporal sulcus: Morphology and local connectivity
C. Bodin,
A. Pron,
M. Le Mao,
J. Régis,
P. Belin,
O. Coulon
Affiliations
C. Bodin
CNRS, UMR 7289, Institut de Neurosciences de la Timone, Aix-Marseille Université, Marseille, France; Institute for Language, Communication, and the Brain, Aix-Marseille University, Marseille, France; Corresponding author at: CNRS, UMR 7289, Institut de Neurosciences de la Timone, Aix-Marseille Université, Marseille, France.
A. Pron
CNRS, UMR 7289, Institut de Neurosciences de la Timone, Aix-Marseille Université, Marseille, France
M. Le Mao
CNRS, UMR 7289, Institut de Neurosciences de la Timone, Aix-Marseille Université, Marseille, France
J. Régis
INSERM U1106, Institut de Neurosciences des Systèmes, Aix-Marseille Université, Marseille, France
P. Belin
CNRS, UMR 7289, Institut de Neurosciences de la Timone, Aix-Marseille Université, Marseille, France; Département de Psychologie, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Canada; Institute for Language, Communication, and the Brain, Aix-Marseille University, Marseille, France
O. Coulon
CNRS, UMR 7289, Institut de Neurosciences de la Timone, Aix-Marseille Université, Marseille, France; Institute for Language, Communication, and the Brain, Aix-Marseille University, Marseille, France
While there is a profusion of functional investigations involving the superior temporal sulcus (STS), our knowledge of the anatomy of this sulcus is still limited by a large individual variability. In particular, an accurate characterization of the “plis de passage” (PPs), annectant gyri inside the fold, is lacking to explain this variability. Performed on 90 subjects of the HCP database, our study revealed that PPs constitute landmarks that can be identified from the geometry of the STS walls. They were found associated with a specific U-shape white-matter connectivity between the two banks of the sulcus, the amount of connectivity being related to the depth of the PPs. These findings raise new hypotheses regarding the spatial organization of PPs, the relation between cortical anatomy and structural connectivity, as well as the possible role of PPs in the regional functional organization.
