The bilateral Superior corona radiata (Right) is a major white matter tract located superior to the internal capsule, composed predominantly of projection fibers that convey ascending sensory and descending motor information between the cerebral cortex and subcortical structures, including the thalamus, brainstem, and spinal cord. It forms part of the larger corona radiata system, fanning out toward the cortical surface and integrating cortical processing with deep neural circuits essential for motor control, sensory integration, and higher cognitive functions. In the JHU ICBM 1mm Atlas, it is delineated as a distinct tract based on diffusion tensor imaging, contributing to the characterization of structural connectivity in the human brain. There is no direct Wikipedia article for the superior corona radiata, but it is a component of the broader Corona radiata.
The superior corona radiata, as defined by the JHU ICBM 1 mm atlas, has been implicated in multiple imaging genetics and GWAS studies that link common variants to white matter microstructure and associated cognitive and clinical phenotypes. Large diffusion MRI GWAS (e.g., ENIGMA, UK Biobank) have identified SNPs near genes involved in axon guidance and myelination (such as CNTN4, DSCAM, NAV2, and oligodendrocyte-related genes) that associate with fractional anisotropy and mean diffusivity in the corona radiata, suggesting genetic control over fiber integrity in this tract. Altered superior corona radiata structure, partly genetically influenced, has been observed in disorders including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, major depression, ADHD, and autism, often in relation to polygenic risk scores for these conditions, as well as in neurodevelopmental traits such as IQ, processing speed, and educational attainment. Variants in loci linked to neurodegeneration (for example, near APOE and other lipid and microglial genes) have been associated with changes in corona radiata white matter in aging cohorts, connecting genetic risk for Alzheimer’s disease and small vessel disease to microstructural damage in this region. Together, these findings indicate that the bilateral superior corona radiata is a genetically modulated hub of long-range cortical–subcortical connectivity, where common genetic variation influences both normal cognitive variation and vulnerability to a range of neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative phenotypes.
Overview generated by GPT-4o (2026).
Region ID: 25
Hemisphere: bilateral
Atlas: JHU ICBM labels 1mm
Full Quality Version: Download MP4
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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