Publication:
Principles of organisation within the pathways in the brainstem and thalamus

dc.contributor.advisor Moorhouse, Andrew
dc.contributor.advisor Ashwell, Kenneth
dc.contributor.advisor Wen, Wei
dc.contributor.author Skliros, Christodoulos
dc.date.accessioned 2022-06-14T04:23:59Z
dc.date.available 2022-06-14T04:23:59Z
dc.date.issued 2022
dc.date.submitted 2022-06-11T10:01:34Z
dc.description.abstract There are few detailed studies on the pathways through the human brainstem and even fewer on those through the pons. This thesis aims to address this lack of fine detail, and used ultra-high-field magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of human and macaque brains to identify and characterise fibre tracts connecting cortical and spinal areas as they traverse through brainstem and thalamic structures. The material in this thesis is based on a unique dataset of ultra-high-field (7 Tesla – Duke and 11, 7 Tesla – Johns Hopkins) MRI scans on postmortem specimens, on which deterministic tractography has been applied based on high-angular-resolution diffusion imaging (HARDI) and subsequently higher order tensor glyph models. The first results section of the thesis (Chapter 3) maps the descending fibre bundles associated with movement. From the motor cortical areas, the fibres of the internal capsule are traced through the crus cerebri, basilar pons and pyramids in three dimensions to reveal their organisation into functional and topographic subdivisions. While human cortico-pontine, -bulbar and -spinal tracts were traditionally considered to be dispersed, or a “melange”, I show here a much more discrete and defined organisation of these descending fibre bundles. Nine descending fibre bundles are identified and their anatomical location and terminations are described. A hitherto unknown pathway at the midline of the pons has been discovered and named herein as the Stria Pontis which connects the neocortex to the pontine tegmentum. Ten transverse fibre bundles connecting the pontine nuclei to the cerebellum are also identified. The second results section (Chapter 4) analyses the sensory pathways; the dorsal column - medial lemniscus pathway, the spinothalamic tract, the spinal trigeminal tract and the trigeminothalamic tracts. The third results section (Chapter 5) analyses the dentato-rubro-thalamic tract. The mapping identifies the superior cerebellar peduncle, the patterning of the fibres within the superior cerebellar decussation, the patterning of the fibres within the red nucleus and finally the projection of the dentato-rubro-thalamic tract from the red nucleus to the ventral lateral nucleus of the thalamus. Finally, I characterised 117 already known anatomical parts, areas and structures of the brainstem and thalamus in 3D.
dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/1959.4/100390
dc.language English
dc.language.iso en
dc.publisher UNSW, Sydney
dc.rights CC BY 4.0
dc.rights.uri https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
dc.subject.other postmortem deterministic tractography
dc.subject.other ultra-high-field MRI / DTI
dc.subject.other biomedical engineering
dc.subject.other tensor glyphs
dc.subject.other descriptive neuroanatomy
dc.subject.other comparative anatomy
dc.subject.other theoretical neuroscience
dc.subject.other basilar pons
dc.subject.other corticospinal tract
dc.subject.other pyramidal tract
dc.subject.other corticopontine tract
dc.subject.other spinothalamic tract
dc.subject.other medial lemniscus
dc.subject.other spinal trigeminal tract
dc.subject.other ventral trigeminothalamic tract
dc.subject.other dorsal trigeminothalamic tract
dc.subject.other gracile fasciculus
dc.subject.other sensory root of the trigeminal nerve
dc.subject.other cuneate fasciculus
dc.subject.other brainstem
dc.subject.other brain mapping
dc.subject.other dentato-rubro-thalamic tract
dc.subject.other fields of Forel
dc.subject.other stria pontis
dc.title Principles of organisation within the pathways in the brainstem and thalamus
dc.type Thesis
dcterms.accessRights open access
dcterms.rightsHolder Skliros, Christodoulos
dspace.entity.type Publication
unsw.accessRights.uri https://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2
unsw.date.workflow 2022-06-11
unsw.identifier.doi https://doi.org/10.26190/unsworks/24097
unsw.isDatasetRelatedToPublication https://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.22836
unsw.relation.faculty Medicine & Health
unsw.relation.faculty Law & Justice
unsw.relation.school School of Medical Sciences
unsw.relation.school School of Medical Sciences
unsw.relation.school School of Medical Sciences
unsw.relation.school School of Law
unsw.subject.fieldofresearchcode 32 BIOMEDICAL AND CLINICAL SCIENCES
unsw.thesis.degreetype PhD Doctorate
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