The bilateral Left Cerebrum.Frontal Lobe.Middle Frontal Gyrus.Gray Matter.Brodmann area 46 corresponds to the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), a key neocortical region involved in higher-order executive functions, including working memory, planning, cognitive flexibility, attention control, and the regulation of goal-directed behavior. Cytoarchitectonically defined by Brodmann as area 46, it occupies portions of the middle frontal gyrus anterior to primary motor and premotor cortices, integrating multimodal sensory inputs with internal representations to support abstract reasoning, decision-making, and the manipulation of information in memory. This region plays an important role in top-down control of other cortical and subcortical systems, contributes to emotion-cognition interaction, and is frequently implicated in neuropsychiatric conditions such as schizophrenia, depression, and attention disorders. There is no direct link for Brodmann area 46; a closely related structure is the Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex.
The bilateral middle frontal gyrus gray matter in Brodmann area 46 (left frontal lobe) is a key component of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), and genetic associations linked to this region largely reflect its role in executive function, working memory, and cognitive control. GWAS of brain imaging endophenotypes (e.g., ENIGMA, UK Biobank) have identified common variants near genes such as CHRNA5-CHRNA3-CHRNB4, APOE, CNTNAP2, and genes involved in synaptic plasticity and neurodevelopment that influence cortical thickness, surface area, and volume in lateral prefrontal regions including BA46, although many findings are regionally coarse rather than Talairach-label specific. Polygenic risk scores for schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder, and ADHD have been associated with structural and functional alterations in BA46/DLPFC, with risk variants in genes such as CACNA1C, DRD2, GRM3, and ZNF804A repeatedly implicated in abnormal activation or reduced gray matter volume in this region during working memory and cognitive control tasks. Similarly, GWAS for general cognitive ability and educational attainment (e.g., variants near FNBP1L, KIAA0319, and other neurodevelopmental and synaptic genes) show correlations with BA46 morphology and activation, consistent with its role in higher-order cognition. Imaging genetics studies also link COMT Val158Met, BDNF Val66Met, and serotonin transporter (SLC6A4) variants to BA46 activation and connectivity, particularly during tasks requiring working memory, attention, and emotion regulation, and these effects are frequently observed in the left hemisphere. Across psychiatric GWAS, neuroimaging GWAS, and candidate gene studies, BA46 emerges as a convergent site where polygenic liability for cognitive traits and neuropsychiatric disorders manifests in altered gray matter structure and functional engagement, even though precise Talairach BA46-specific loci are rarely isolated in current large-scale genetic analyses.
Overview generated by GPT-4o (2026).
Region ID: 697
Hemisphere: bilateral
Atlas: Talairach 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
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