The bilateral Left Cerebrum.Frontal Lobe.Superior Frontal Gyrus.Gray Matter.Brodmann area 9, as defined in the Talairach 1 mm atlas, corresponds to a portion of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex located in the superior frontal gyrus anterior to the premotor regions and superior to more ventral prefrontal fields. Cytoarchitectonically, BA9 is characterized by a well-developed granular layer IV and distinct pyramidal cell organization in layers III and V, consistent with association cortex specialized for higher-order integration. Functionally, this region is implicated in executive control, working memory, sustained attention, cognitive flexibility, and aspects of planning and decision-making, including monitoring of actions and outcomes and the regulation of goal-directed behavior. It also participates in networks supporting abstract reasoning, metacognition, and the modulation of emotional and social cognition via interactions with other prefrontal and limbic structures. There is no direct link; a closely related structure is the Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex.
The bilateral Left Cerebrum.Frontal Lobe.Superior Frontal Gyrus.Gray Matter.Brodmann area 9 (BA9), as defined in the Talairach 1 mm atlas, has been implicated in multiple genetic and GWAS-based associations through its roles in cognitive control, working memory, and higher-order executive function. Structural and functional variation in BA9 has been repeatedly linked to polygenic risk for schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depressive disorder, including effects from common risk loci such as CACNA1C, ZNF804A, MIR137, and genes in the MHC region, which are associated with altered prefrontal gray matter volume or activation during working memory tasks. Neuroimaging genetics studies show that BA9 thickness and volume exhibit significant SNP-based heritability and are associated with variants in genes involved in neurodevelopment, synaptic plasticity, and myelination (e.g., NRG1/NRG3, BDNF, GRM3), as well as distributed polygenic scores for intelligence, educational attainment, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Large-scale GWAS of cortical morphology from consortia such as ENIGMA and UK Biobank have identified loci influencing dorsolateral prefrontal regions that encompass BA9, linking genes involved in neuronal migration (e.g., TBR1-related pathways), extracellular matrix, and axon guidance to regional cortical thickness and surface area. BA9 has also been implicated in genetic risk for neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric traits—such as Alzheimer’s disease, autism spectrum disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder—through convergent evidence that disease-associated variants modulate prefrontal structure, connectivity, or task-related activation in this region, although most effects are polygenic and distributed rather than specific to BA9 alone.
Overview generated by GPT-4o (2026).
Region ID: 902
Hemisphere: bilateral
Atlas: Talairach 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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