Parcellation of human amygdala in vivo using ultra high field structural MRI.

Histological studies show that human amygdala is subdivided into several nuclei with specific connections to other brain areas. One such study has been recently used as the basis of a probabilistic amygdala map, to enable in vivo identification of specifically located functions within the amygdala and connections to it. The involvement of the amygdala in cognition, emotion and action, which may underlie several psychiatric disorders, points to a need for discrimination of these nuclei in living human brains using different techniques.

Diffusion tensor imaging segments the human amygdala in vivo.

The amygdala plays an important role in emotion, learning, and memory. It would be highly advantageous to understand more precisely its internal structure and connectivity for individual human subjects in vivo. Earlier cytoarchitectural research in post-mortem human and animal brains has revealed multiple subdivisions and connectivity patterns, probably related to different functions.