The right paracentral lobule is a medial cortical region of the superior frontal lobe that represents the continuation of the precentral and postcentral gyri on the medial surface of the hemisphere, encompassing parts of the primary motor and primary somatosensory cortices for the contralateral lower limb and perineal regions. It participates in voluntary motor control of the leg and foot, processing of somatosensory input from these body parts, and contributes to functions related to gait, posture, and sphincter regulation. Vascular supply is primarily from branches of the anterior cerebral artery, and the region is interconnected with motor, premotor, and somatosensory areas as well as subcortical motor circuits. A closely related description of its anatomy and function is included in the article on the Paracentral lobule.
The right paracentral lobule, encompassing medial portions of the primary motor and somatosensory cortices for lower limbs, has been implicated in several genetic and GWAS-based associations, although few studies target this AAL2-defined region explicitly. Imaging–genetics and large-scale GWAS of cortical thickness and surface area (e.g., ENIGMA, UK Biobank) have linked common variants in genes related to neurodevelopment, synaptic function, and myelination (such as MIR137, MAPT, and loci on chromosomes 3p, 6q, and 17q) to structural variation in medial sensorimotor regions that include the paracentral lobule. Regionally specific alterations in this area have been reported in schizophrenia, major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, autism spectrum disorder, and Alzheimer’s disease, with polygenic risk scores for these conditions showing associations with motor and somatosensory cortical measures that encompass paracentral territories. Motor-related disorders with strong genetic components, such as multiple sclerosis, hereditary spastic paraplegia, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, frequently show structural or functional abnormalities in the medial motor strip, including the paracentral lobule, although these findings are usually reported at the level of broader motor cortex rather than the right paracentral lobule in isolation. Overall, genetic associations with the right paracentral lobule are largely inferred from broader sensorimotor or medial frontal cortical GWAS rather than from region-specific genetic mapping directly tied to the AAL2 right paracentral lobule label.
Overview generated by GPT-4o (2026).
Region ID: 6402
Hemisphere: right
Atlas: AAL2
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Full Quality Version: Download MP4
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Wali Sidiqyar*, Gaurav Rudravaram*, Elyssa M. McMaster, Trent M. Schwartz, Adam M. Saunders, Kurt G. Schilling, Bennett A. Landman "Introducing SPINS: A Shared Public Visualization Library of Neuroanatomical Structures." Medical Imaging with Deep Learning- short paper
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