Mapping the Body-Mind Interface in the Brain.
The brain is one of the most complex systems in the Universe. With billions of neurons and trillions of neurons, it evolved around the most primitive needs of the organism: staying alive and optimizing the access to and the use of energy. It is therefore not surprising that even our most sophisticated brain functions are directly shaped by the central integration of sensory afferent signals representing bodily states or interoception. In primates, a phylogenetically novel pathway conveys the interoceptive signals to a special part of the brain, the insular cortex. The integration of interoception with salient environmental cues in the anterior insular cortex engenders subjective feelings reflecting affective homeostatic states and ongoing autonomic regulations of bodily functions. In doing so, the anterior insular cortex actively switches the allocation of metabolic energy across the brain’s functional networks, with great implications for emotion and cognition.
Insular Cortex: from the Primary Interoceptive Cortex to the von Economo Neuron
The primate insular cortex is the fifth lobe of the cerebral cortex, hidden in deep inside the lateral or Sylvian fissure. While its basic parcellation into 3 broad sectors (granular, dysgranular, agranular) was first suggested at the time of Brodmann, we showed that it contains in fact multiple smaller architectonic parcels or areas, with each area being connected to specific parts of the brain. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and multiple unit recording, we showed that a pair of dorsal granular areas of the insula (Idfp and Idfa), or ‘Primary Interoceptive Cortex’, contains a fine map of the body’s interoception. Our tract-tracing work suggests that this ‘interotopic’ map is re-represented multiple times throughout the middle dysgranular areas of the insula (Idd, Idm, and Idv), before being finally integrated in the ventral anterior agranular areas of the insula (Iap, Iapl, Iapm, Ial, Iai, and Iam). One of the agranular areas (Ial) specifically contains a unique spindle-shaped projection neuron, the von Economo neuron, which is 2 to 3 times larger than local pyramidal neurons, and which is known to be selectively depleted in neuropsychiatric disorders characterized by a loss of self-conscious feelings. We showed that the von Economo neurons project to key brainstem autonomic centers, indicating that they are responsible for the rapid adaptation of the body to ongoing emotional and cognitive operations.
A Multidisciplinary Approach to Interoception.
The DEB Lab combines multiple experimental approaches in hon-human primates to examine the neuroanatomical pathways and functional mechanisms underlying the central integration of interoception. The lab’s strategy encompasses a comprehensive set of complimentary methods that will allow us to manipulate (chemo-)genetically specific sets of neurons, brain circuits and bodily parameters during neuronal recording, functional neuroimaging, and behavior. Our group also uses comparative/translational approaches.
The DEB Lab: An International Team Player.
The DEB Lab benefits from a unique trans-institutional and trans-national situation. While our main activity is located at ICPBR and CEBSIT/ION at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Shanghai, we also have active research and collaborations at the C-BIN of the Nathan Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research (NY, USA), at the Center for Integrative Neuroscience (CIN) of the University of Tübingen (Germany), as well as the Neuro/Psychophysiology Lab at the University of Leuven (Belgium) where we actively collaborate with Wim Vanduffel. The DEB Lab is also involved in several community-based initiatives, including the Primate Data and Resource Exchange (PRIME-DRE) and the newly founded Global Primate Brain Histology Exchange (PRIME-HISTO) projects.
Senior Investigator
