The bilateral GM Secondary somatosensory cortex Parietal operculum OP3 L, defined in the Juelich maxprob thr25 2mm atlas, corresponds to a cytoarchitectonic subregion (OP3) within the parietal operculum on the suprasylvian surface of the lateral sulcus, forming part of the secondary somatosensory cortex (S2). This region is involved in higher-order somatosensory processing, including integration of tactile, nociceptive, and proprioceptive inputs, and contributes to bilateral representation of the body surface, sensorimotor integration, and aspects of tactile perception such as texture and shape discrimination. OP3 receives convergent thalamocortical input from somatosensory relay nuclei and is reciprocally connected with primary somatosensory cortex, motor and premotor areas, and insular regions, supporting multimodal processing and participation in somatosensory aspects of body awareness. There is no direct Wikipedia article for OP3; a closely related and encompassing structure is the Secondary somatosensory cortex.
The bilateral GM Secondary somatosensory cortex Parietal operculum OP3 L, as defined in the Juelich maxprob thr25 2mm atlas, has not been the direct focus of many gene-brain association studies, but genetic findings implicating nearby somatosensory and parietal opercular regions suggest several relevant links. GWAS and imaging-genetics studies have associated variation in somatosensory and parietal opercular structure and function with genes involved in synaptic plasticity, neuronal development, and myelination (for example, variants in BDNF, NRG3, and several glutamatergic and GABAergic pathway genes), which in turn show relationships to cortical thickness and surface area in adjacent somatosensory regions. Somatosensory and parietal opercular areas, including OP regions, have been implicated via genetic risk scores and regional activation patterns in pain sensitivity and chronic pain conditions, notably migraine, fibromyalgia, and neuropathic pain, where polygenic risk overlaps with neuroinflammatory and ion-channel genes (e.g., CACNA1A, SCN9A in broader pain circuits). Additionally, genetic liability for neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders—such as autism spectrum disorder, schizophrenia, and ADHD—has been linked in imaging-genetics work to atypical activation and connectivity in secondary somatosensory and parietal opercular networks, suggesting that polygenic variation influencing large-scale sensory integration and salience networks may modulate OP3-related function. However, current GWAS and region-of-interest studies rarely isolate OP3 specifically, so genetic associations are best interpreted as involving a broader somatosensory–parietal opercular system rather than this subregion alone.
Overview generated by GPT-4o (2026).
Region ID: 63
Hemisphere: bilateral
Atlas: Juelich maxprob thr25 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
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