Connessioni corticali del settore della corteccia prefrontale ventrolaterale coinvolta nel controllo delle azioni intenzionali

Abstract

A long tradition sees the prefrontal cortex involved in driving behavior on the base of contextual information. There is anatomical evidence in the monkey that one specific sector of the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (areas r46vc and intermediate 12r) could be a privileged seat for guiding manual actions, through its connections with the principal nodes of the parieto-premotor circuits responsible for the visuo-motor transformations for grasping. In particular, have been described neurons in a specific region of the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, that are activated during the execution and/or the observation of finalized motor acts performed with the hand. Also these neurons were found in a specific region of the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex. We hypothesize that the region containing the active neurons during the execution of the movement corresponds to the one connected with the parietal and premotor areas of the circuit of grasping, and that there is therefore a specific anatomo-functional network involved in the guide of manual actions. To this purpose we have functionally identified the region containing motion-activated neurons, correlated and responsive to the observation of the actions, we injected a neuronal tracer, and described the pattern of cortical connections The results of this experiment were then compared with those of another injection in the r46vc area, in a monkey not previously registered.