Parcellation of the Hippocampus According to Its Connection Probability with Prefrontal Cortex Subdivisions in a Malaysian Malay Population: Preliminary Findings

Background: Lesion studies have shown distinct roles for the hippocampus, with the dorsal subregion being involved in processing of spatial information and memory, and the ventral aspect coding for emotion and motivational behaviour. However, its structural connectivity with the subdivisions of the prefrontal cortex (PFC), the executive area of the brain that also has various distinct functions, has not been fully explored, especially in the Malaysian population.

Methods: We performed diffusion magnetic resonance imaging with probabilistic tractography on four Malay males to parcellate the hippocampus according to its relative connection probability to the six subdivisions of the PFC.

Results: Our findings revealed that each hippocampus showed putative connectivity to all the subdivisions of PFC, with the highest connectivity to the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC). Parcellation of the hippocampus according to its connection probability to the six PFC subdivisions showed variability in the pattern of the connection distribution and no clear distinction between the hippocampal subregions.

Conclusion: Hippocampus displayed highest connectivity to the OFC as compared to other PFC subdivisions. We did not find a unifying pattern of distribution based on the connectivity-based parcellation of the hippocampus.