Brodmann area 32 in the bilateral right cerebrum limbic lobe anterior cingulate gray matter is a medial prefrontal cortical region situated within the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, forming part of the limbic system and frontocingulate network. Cytoarchitectonically, it is characterized by an agranular to dysgranular cortex with relatively prominent pyramidal neurons in layers III and V, supporting integrative functions that link affective, cognitive, and autonomic processes. Functionally, area 32 is implicated in emotional regulation, conflict monitoring, error detection, decision-making, and modulation of autonomic responses, as well as in aspects of motivation and social cognition. In the Talairach 1 mm atlas, this region lies superior to the corpus callosum and anterior to the midcingulate areas, extending along the medial wall of the frontal lobe. There is no dedicated Wikipedia article specifically for “Brodmann area 32,” but it is commonly discussed as part of the Anterior cingulate cortex.
The bilateral anterior cingulate cortex (ACC; Brodmann area 32 within the limbic lobe) shows convergent genetic associations from GWAS and imaging–genetics studies, particularly for psychiatric, cognitive, and pain-related traits. Common variants in genes involved in synaptic plasticity, glutamatergic and GABAergic signaling, and neurodevelopment (for example, CACNA1C, ZNF804A, DISC1, NRG1, and GRM3) have been repeatedly linked to structural and functional differences in ACC/BA32 and to risk for disorders such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depressive disorder. Large-scale ENIGMA and UK Biobank analyses have identified polygenic influences on ACC gray matter volume and cortical thickness, with significant SNP-based heritability and associations implicating loci near genes like HMGA2, PITPNM2, and others involved in neuronal growth and cortical patterning. ACC/BA32 variation has also been associated genetically with anxiety, neuroticism, cognitive control, and attention, often via polygenic risk scores for psychiatric disorders that predict ACC morphometry or activity. In pain and affective processing, genetic variants in COMT, OPRM1, and serotonin transporter genes (SLC6A4) have been linked to altered ACC activation and connectivity. Overall, GWAS and candidate-gene studies converge on BA32 as a key genetically influenced hub in circuits for emotion regulation, cognitive control, and pain, with shared polygenic architectures across multiple neuropsychiatric disorders.
Overview generated by GPT-4o (2026).
Region ID: 396
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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