Abstract
The claustrum is structurally connected with many cortical areas.A major hurdle standing in the way of understanding claustrum function is the difficulty in assessing the global functional connectivity (FC) of this structure. The primary issues lie in the inability to isolate claustrum signal from the adjacent insular cortex (Ins), caudate/putamen (CPu), and endopiriform nucleus (Endo). To address this issue, we used (7T) fMRI in the rat and describe a novel analytic method to study claustrum without signal contamination from the surrounding structures. Using this approach, we acquired claustrum signal distinct from Ins, CPu, and Endo, and used this claustrum signal to determine whole brain resting state functional connectivity (RSFC). Claustrum RSFC was distinct from the adjacent structures and displayed extensive connections with sensory cortices and the cingulate cortex, consistent with known structural connectivity of the claustrum. These results suggest fMRI and improved analysis can be combined to accurately assay claustrum function.
Highlights
The claustrum is highly interconnected with many cortical areas (Crick and Koch, 2005; Mathur, 2014)
We were able to isolate claustrum signal from the surrounding regions using small region confound correction (SRCC). To further validate this approach, we applied this method to the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) using bilateral M2 as surrounding regions and found that again, SRCC was able to isolate region of interest (ROI) signal (Supplementary Figure S1)
We propose a novel approach, SRCC, to study the claustrum using fMRI that overcomes existing problems in the field, namely, the masking of signal from an ROI by incorporating outside tissue into the ROI
Summary
The claustrum is highly interconnected with many cortical areas (Crick and Koch, 2005; Mathur, 2014). Work in the cat suggests that the claustrum receives multimodal sensory input (Segundo and Machne, 1956; Spector et al, 1974) This concept was provisionally supported in a human study by Hadjikhani and Roland (1998) who showed that claustrum activation was greatest when both somatosensory and visual modalities were recruited in order to complete an object recognition task. In light of these data and taking the early view of Ettlinger and Wilson (1990) to a new conceptual level, Crick and Koch (2005) presented a new hypothetical framework: claustrum integrates multimodal information for the generation of conscious perception.
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