caa a22 4500 606202684 CHVBK 20210128100954.0 cr unu---uuuuu 210128e20150701xx s 000 0 eng 10.1007/s00429-014-0792-y doi (NATIONALLICENCE)springer-10.1007/s00429-014-0792-y An analysis of von Economo neurons in the cerebral cortex of cetaceans, artiodactyls, and perissodactyls [Elektronische Daten] [Mary Raghanti, Linda Spurlock, F. Robert Treichler, Sara Weigel, Raphaela Stimmelmayr, Camilla Butti, J. Hans Thewissen, Patrick Hof] Von Economo neurons (VENs) are specialized projection neurons with a characteristic spindle-shaped soma and thick basal and apical dendrites. VENs have been described in restricted cortical regions, with their most frequent appearance in layers III and V of the anterior cingulate cortex, anterior insula, and frontopolar cortex of humans, great apes, macaque monkeys, elephants, and some cetaceans. Recently, a ubiquitous distribution of VENs was reported in various cortical areas in the pygmy hippopotamus, one of the closest living relatives of cetaceans. That finding suggested that VENs might not be unique to only a few species that possess enlarged brains. In the present analysis, we assessed the phylogenetic distribution of VENs within species representative of the superordinal clade that includes cetartiodactyls and perissodactyls, as well as afrotherians. In addition, the distribution of fork cells that are often found in close proximity to VENs was also assessed. Nissl-stained sections from the frontal pole, anterior cingulate cortex, anterior insula, and occipital pole of bowhead whale, cow, sheep, deer, horse, pig, rock hyrax, and human were examined using stereologic methods to quantify VENs and fork cells within layer V of all four cortical regions. VENs and fork cells were found in each of the species examined here with species-specific differences in distributions and densities. The present results demonstrated that VENs and fork cells were not restricted to highly encephalized or socially complex species, and their repeated emergence among distantly related species seems to represent convergent evolution of specialized pyramidal neurons. The widespread phylogenetic presence of VENs and fork cells indicates that these neuron morphologies readily emerged in response to selective forces,whose variety and nature are yet to be identified. Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg, 2014 Von Economo neurons (VENs) nationallicence Fork cells nationallicence Cortical evolution nationallicence Cingulate cortex nationallicence Insula nationallicence Bowhead whale nationallicence Evolution nationallicence Raghanti Mary Department of Anthropology and School of Biomedical Sciences, Kent State University, 750 Hilltop Drive, 222 Lowry Hall, 44242, Kent, OH, USA aut Spurlock Linda Department of Anthropology and School of Biomedical Sciences, Kent State University, 750 Hilltop Drive, 222 Lowry Hall, 44242, Kent, OH, USA aut Robert Treichler F. Department of Psychology, Kent State University, Kent, OH, USA aut Weigel Sara Department of Anthropology and School of Biomedical Sciences, Kent State University, 750 Hilltop Drive, 222 Lowry Hall, 44242, Kent, OH, USA aut Stimmelmayr Raphaela Department of Wildlife Management, North Slope Borough, Barrow, AK, USA aut Butti Camilla Fishberg Department of Neuroscience and Friedman Brain Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA aut Hans Thewissen J. Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Northeast Ohio Medical University, Rootstown, OH, USA aut Hof Patrick Fishberg Department of Neuroscience and Friedman Brain Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA aut Brain Structure and Function Springer Berlin Heidelberg 220/4(2015-07-01), 2303-2314 1863-2653 220:4<2303 2015 220 429 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00429-014-0792-y text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 Metadata rights reserved Springer special CC-BY-NC licence nationallicence 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-springer NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00429-014-0792-y text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Raghanti Mary Department of Anthropology and School of Biomedical Sciences, Kent State University, 750 Hilltop Drive, 222 Lowry Hall, 44242, Kent, OH, USA aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Spurlock Linda Department of Anthropology and School of Biomedical Sciences, Kent State University, 750 Hilltop Drive, 222 Lowry Hall, 44242, Kent, OH, USA aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Robert Treichler F. Department of Psychology, Kent State University, Kent, OH, USA aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Weigel Sara Department of Anthropology and School of Biomedical Sciences, Kent State University, 750 Hilltop Drive, 222 Lowry Hall, 44242, Kent, OH, USA aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Stimmelmayr Raphaela Department of Wildlife Management, North Slope Borough, Barrow, AK, USA aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Butti Camilla Fishberg Department of Neuroscience and Friedman Brain Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Hans Thewissen J. Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Northeast Ohio Medical University, Rootstown, OH, USA aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Hof Patrick Fishberg Department of Neuroscience and Friedman Brain Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA aut NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- Brain Structure and Function Springer Berlin Heidelberg 220/4(2015-07-01), 2303-2314 1863-2653 220:4<2303 2015 220 429