The bilateral External capsule R, as defined in the JHU ICBM 1 mm atlas, refers to the right external capsule, a sheet of white matter fibers situated lateral to the putamen and medial to the claustrum. It contains association fibers connecting parts of the cerebral cortex, notably linking frontal and temporal regions with the insular cortex, and participates in cortico-cortical communication underlying higher-order sensory integration, language, and cognitive functions. The external capsule is part of the broader subcortical white matter architecture and lies in close relationship to the internal capsule and extreme capsule, forming layered fiber systems that support complex neural processing and network connectivity. There is no direct Wikipedia article specifically for the external capsule as an isolated entry; a related and encompassing structure is the Cerebral white matter.
The bilateral external capsule, as defined in the JHU ICBM labels 1 mm atlas, is a major association white-matter pathway whose microstructural properties (e.g., fractional anisotropy and mean diffusivity) have been implicated in several genetic and genome-wide association studies, although findings are typically reported at the tract or whole-brain white-matter level rather than specifically for the right external capsule alone. Imaging–genetics work has linked variation in external capsule integrity to common polymorphisms in genes related to myelination and neurodevelopment (such as NRG1, BDNF, and various oligodendrocyte-related genes), and large-scale GWAS of diffusion MRI metrics have identified multiple loci (often near genes involved in axon guidance, cell-adhesion molecules, and lipid metabolism) that influence white-matter microstructure in regions encompassing the external capsule. Clinically, reduced integrity or altered metrics in the external capsule have been associated with schizophrenia, major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, and autism spectrum conditions, and family or twin studies suggest heritable contributions to these traits that partially overlap with genetic influences on external capsule structure; however, no single variant or locus has yet been established as a specific, reproducible genetic determinant of the bilateral external capsule R in isolation.
Overview generated by GPT-4o (2026).
Region ID: 33
Hemisphere: bilateral
Atlas: JHU ICBM labels 1mm
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Full Quality Version: Download MP4
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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