The bilateral External Capsule R, as defined in the JHU ICBM 2 mm atlas, refers to the right external capsule, a sheet of white matter fiber tracts situated between the putamen (laterally) and the claustrum/insula (medially). It contains association fibers, including corticocortical connections linking frontal, temporal, and parietal cortical regions, and is involved in integrating information across distributed cortical networks rather than executing a single, specific function. Damage to the external capsule can disrupt these long-range connections and has been associated with cognitive, language, and sensory integration deficits. There is no direct link for “External Capsule R”; the region is part of the External capsule.
The bilateral external capsule, as defined in the JHU ICBM labels 2 mm atlas, is a major white matter pathway connecting cortical and subcortical regions, and genetic associations involving this tract largely stem from neuroimaging GWAS of white matter microstructure rather than region-specific candidate gene studies. Large diffusion MRI GWAS (e.g., ENIGMA and UK Biobank-based studies) have identified multiple common variants associated with fractional anisotropy and other diffusion metrics within association and projection fibers that include or border the external capsule, implicating genes involved in axonal guidance, myelination, and neurodevelopment such as those in the neuregulin–ERBB, semaphorin/plexin, and oligodendrocyte-related pathways, though the external capsule is rarely singled out as a primary locus. Polygenic influences on schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, major depression, and neuroticism have been shown to correlate with altered integrity of fronto-striatal and fronto-temporal tracts traversing or adjacent to the external capsule, suggesting that common psychiatric risk variants partly act through white matter organization in these regions. Additionally, GWAS of cognitive traits (general intelligence, processing speed) and educational attainment have reported associations with diffusion measures in nearby association fibers, consistent with the external capsule’s role in cortico-cortical communication. However, direct, tract-specific genetic associations for the external capsule R as a standalone region remain limited, with current evidence primarily reflecting broader genetic effects on distributed white matter networks rather than discrete, region-focused findings.
Overview generated by GPT-4o (2026).
Region ID: 33
Hemisphere: bilateral
Atlas: JHU ICBM labels 2mm
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
This resource is licensed under CC0 1.0 Universal (Public Domain).