Mapping brain-wide excitatory projectome of primate prefrontal cortex at submicron resolution and comparison with diffusion tractography
Mingchao Yan,
Wenwen Yu,
Qian Lv,
Qiming Lv,
Tingting Bo,
Xiaoyu Chen,
Yilin Liu,
Yafeng Zhan,
Shengyao Yan,
Xiangyu Shen,
Baofeng Yang,
Qiming Hu,
Jiangli Yu,
Zilong Qiu,
Yuanjing Feng,
Xiao-Yong Zhang,
He Wang,
Fuqiang Xu,
Zheng Wang
Affiliations
Mingchao Yan
Institute of Neuroscience, State Key Laboratory of Neuroscience, Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
Wenwen Yu
Institute of Science and Technology for Brain-inspired Intelligence, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
Qian Lv
School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences; Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health; IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research; Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China
Qiming Lv
Institute of Neuroscience, State Key Laboratory of Neuroscience, Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China
Institute of Neuroscience, State Key Laboratory of Neuroscience, Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
Xiaoyu Chen
Institute of Neuroscience, State Key Laboratory of Neuroscience, Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
Yilin Liu
Institute of Neuroscience, State Key Laboratory of Neuroscience, Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
Yafeng Zhan
Institute of Neuroscience, State Key Laboratory of Neuroscience, Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
Shengyao Yan
Institute of Neuroscience, State Key Laboratory of Neuroscience, Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
Xiangyu Shen
Institute of Neuroscience, State Key Laboratory of Neuroscience, Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China
Baofeng Yang
Institute of Science and Technology for Brain-inspired Intelligence, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
Qiming Hu
College of Information Engineering, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, China
Jiangli Yu
College of Information Engineering, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, China
Zilong Qiu
Institute of Neuroscience, State Key Laboratory of Neuroscience, Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China
Yuanjing Feng
College of Information Engineering, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, China
Shenzhen Key Lab of Neuropsychiatric Modulation and Collaborative Innovation Center for Brain Science, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Brain Connectome and Behavior, CAS Key Laboratory of Brain Connectome and Manipulation, Brain Cognition and Brain Disease Institute (BCBDI), Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Shenzhen-Hong Kong Institute of Brain Science-Shenzhen Fundamental Research Institutions, Shenzhen, China
School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences; Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health; IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research; Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China
Resolving trajectories of axonal pathways in the primate prefrontal cortex remains crucial to gain insights into higher-order processes of cognition and emotion, which requires a comprehensive map of axonal projections linking demarcated subdivisions of prefrontal cortex and the rest of brain. Here, we report a mesoscale excitatory projectome issued from the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (vlPFC) to the entire macaque brain by using viral-based genetic axonal tracing in tandem with high-throughput serial two-photon tomography, which demonstrated prominent monosynaptic projections to other prefrontal areas, temporal, limbic, and subcortical areas, relatively weak projections to parietal and insular regions but no projections directly to the occipital lobe. In a common 3D space, we quantitatively validated an atlas of diffusion tractography-derived vlPFC connections with correlative green fluorescent protein-labeled axonal tracing, and observed generally good agreement except a major difference in the posterior projections of inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus. These findings raise an intriguing question as to how neural information passes along long-range association fiber bundles in macaque brains, and call for the caution of using diffusion tractography to map the wiring diagram of brain circuits.
