The Connectivity of the Human Pulvinar: A Diffusion Tensor Imaging Tractography Study

Figure 2

Population probability maps of reconstructed pulvinar tracts based on tractography in six healthy subjects. Fiber tracking was initiated from a seed mask in the right pulvinar demonstrated in red hues and from a seed mask in the left pulvinar demonstrated in blue hues. Intensity of the color scales represents the proportion of the population showing a tract at any given voxel. Tracts were registered to MNI standard stereotaxic space, thresholded at 20 samples, and binarised and summed across subjects. For individual subject tracts (see Figure 3). Images demonstrate ipsilateral connections to/from the superior colliculus (A; 𝑥 = ±4, 𝑦 = −34, 𝑧 = −8), the caudate (B; 𝑥 = ±12, 𝑦 = 6, 𝑧 = 16), the frontal eye fields (C; 𝑥 = ±18, 𝑦 = −6, 𝑧 = 50), prefrontal areas (D; 𝑥 = ±20, 𝑦 = 62, 𝑧 = 2), visual inferiotemporal area (E; 𝑥 = ±32, 𝑦 = −4, 𝑧 = −42), V1 (F; 𝑥 = ±16, 𝑦 = −86, 𝑧 = 2), V2/3 (G; 𝑥 = ±16, 𝑦 = −88, 𝑧 = 14; 𝑥 = ±22, 𝑦 = −80, 𝑧 = 22), V4 (H; 𝑥 = ±26, −75, −3), V5 (MT) (I;𝑥 = ±32, 𝑦 = −74, 𝑧 = 10), and posterior parietal association areas (J; 𝑥 = ±20, 𝑦 = −60, 𝑧 = 54). Note the high consistency of pulvinar tracts across subjects.