Cingulate gyrus and sulcus (Posterior dorsal part)
The upper rear stretch of the cingulate gyrus and its bordering sulcus, on the medial face of the hemisphere above the corpus callosum.
At a glance
- English
- Cingulate gyrus and sulcus (Posterior dorsal part)
- System
- Brain and spinal cord
- Region
- Head
- Side
- Paired, left and right
About the cingulate gyrus and sulcus (posterior dorsal part)
The cingulate gyrus is a long fold of cortex on the medial surface of each cerebral hemisphere. It arches around the corpus callosum like a belt, separated from it below by the callosal sulcus and from the medial frontal and parietal cortex above by the cingulate sulcus. Atlases that divide the gyrus along its length treat this posterior dorsal part as the stretch lying over the back half of the body of the corpus callosum, behind the middle cingulate region and above the narrower ventral portion that curves down towards the splenium and isthmus.
Above it lies the paracentral lobule and, further back, the precuneus. Near this level the cingulate sulcus turns upwards as its marginal branch to reach the superior border of the hemisphere, and behind that point the sulcus continues as the subparietal sulcus, which separates the cingulate cortex from the precuneus.
This region belongs to the posterior cingulate cortex, which corresponds broadly to Brodmann areas 23 and 31. The posterior cingulate cortex is one of the most strongly connected parts of the cortex, linked with the parietal lobe, the hippocampal formation, the thalamus and the prefrontal cortex. It is a central node of the default mode network, active during rest, recall of personal memories and thinking about oneself, and it also takes part in spatial orientation and in shifting attention.
Clinically, reduced glucose use in the posterior cingulate cortex is one of the earliest changes seen on PET imaging in Alzheimer's disease. The cingulate gyrus also lies close to the free edge of the falx cerebri, beneath which brain tissue can be pushed in a subfalcine herniation.
Function and supply
- Function
- Part of the posterior cingulate cortex: a hub of the default mode network concerned with self-referential thought, recall of personal memories, spatial orientation and the control of attention.
- Blood supply
- Mainly from the pericallosal and callosomarginal branches of the anterior cerebral artery; further back the territory meets branches of the posterior cerebral artery.
Anthromica
See the cingulate gyrus and sulcus (posterior dorsal part) where it really sits, with every layer of the body around it.
- Every layer, one body. Peel from muscle to bone, nerve, vessel and organ, and turn it any way.
- English and Latin. Every structure named the way your exam names it.
- Quiz until it sticks. Short drills on the structures you keep missing.
Free to start. No card.
