Parcelation of the Human Premotor Cortex with DTI Technique

Luca Nocetti¹, Matteo Orlandi², Davide Duzzi², Patrizia Baraldi², Carlo Adolfo Porro²

The human premotor cortex is likely to include a mosaic of anatomically and functionally distinct areas, as in non-human primates, but its functional networks are only beginning to be understood. In this work we use the DTI technique to investigate the anatomical connectivity between the premotor cortex and the other part of the brain. Data were processed using probabilistic tractography (FDT tool included in FSL package) Single subject analysis was performed in different ways in order to check for repeatability. In particular we tested the eddy current correction step (ECC) as implemented in FSL package and different paths of coregistration. Multi-subjects analysis was performed in a fashion based on the results of the single-subject analysis. Through single-subject analysis an optimized processing procedure was defined. The multi-subject analysis revealed 4 main regions with different anatomical connectivity