neuroanatomy Neuroanatomy is the study of the structure and organization of the nervous system. In contrast to animals with radial symmetry, whose nervous system consists of a distributed network of cells, animals with bilateral symmetry have segregated, defin ...

, the lateral sulcus (also called Sylvian fissure, after

Franciscus Sylvius Franciscus Sylvius (15 March 1614 – 19 November 1672), born Franz de le Boë, was a Dutch physician and scientist (chemist, physiologist and anatomist) who was an early champion of Descartes', Van Helmont's and William Harvey's work and ...

, or lateral fissure) is one of the most prominent features of the

human brain The human brain is the central organ (anatomy), organ of the human nervous system, and with the spinal cord makes up the central nervous system. The brain consists of the cerebrum, the brainstem and the cerebellum. It controls most of the act ...

. The lateral sulcus is a deep

fissure A fissure is a long, narrow crack opening along the surface of Earth. The term is derived from the Latin word , which means 'cleft' or 'crack'. Fissures emerge in Earth's crust, on ice sheets and glaciers, and on volcanoes. Ground fissure A ...

in each hemisphere that separates the frontal and

parietal lobe The parietal lobe is one of the four major lobes of the cerebral cortex in the brain of mammals. The parietal lobe is positioned above the temporal lobe and behind the frontal lobe and central sulcus. The parietal lobe integrates sensory informa ...

s from the

temporal lobe The temporal lobe is one of the four major lobes of the cerebral cortex in the brain of mammals. The temporal lobe is located beneath the lateral fissure on both cerebral hemispheres of the mammalian brain. The temporal lobe is involved in proc ...

. The

insular cortex The insular cortex (also insula and insular lobe) is a portion of the cerebral cortex folded deep within the lateral sulcus (the fissure separating the temporal lobe from the parietal and frontal lobes) within each hemisphere of the mammalian ...

lies deep within the lateral sulcus.

Anatomy

The lateral sulcus divides both the

frontal lobe The frontal lobe is the largest of the four major lobes of the brain in mammals, and is located at the front of each cerebral hemisphere (in front of the parietal lobe and the temporal lobe). It is parted from the parietal lobe by a groove b ...

and

above from the

below. It is in both hemispheres of the brain. The lateral sulcus is one of the earliest-developing sulci of the human brain. It first appears around the fourteenth gestational week. The

lies deep within the lateral sulcus. The lateral sulcus has a number of side branches. Two of the most prominent and most regularly found are the ascending (also called vertical) ramus and the horizontal ramus of the lateral fissure, which subdivide the

inferior frontal gyrus The inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), (gyrus frontalis inferior), is the lowest positioned gyrus of the frontal gyri, of the frontal lobe, and is part of the prefrontal cortex. Its superior border is the inferior frontal sulcus (which divides it f ...

. The lateral sulcus also contains the transverse temporal gyri, which are part of the primary and below the surface

auditory cortex The auditory cortex is the part of the temporal lobe that processes auditory information in humans and many other vertebrates. It is a part of the auditory system, performing basic and higher functions in hearing, such as possible relations to ...

. Due to a phenomenon called the Yakovlevian torque, the lateral sulcus is often longer and less curved on the left hemisphere than on the right. It is also located near the Sylvian point. The area lying around the Sylvian fissure is often referred to as the perisylvian cortex. The human

secondary somatosensory cortex The human secondary somatosensory cortex (S2, SII) is a region of cortex in the parietal operculum on the ceiling of the lateral sulcus. Region S2 was first described by Adrian in 1940, who found that feeling in cats' feet was not only represe ...

(S2, SII) is a functionally-defined region of cortex in the parietal operculum on the ceiling of the lateral sulcus.

Discovery

Girolamo Fabrici d'Acquapendente Tabulae Picae 1600

The cerebral cortex was not depicted in a realistic manner until the 17th century with the Sylvian fissure being first accurately painted by Girolamo Fabrici d'Acquapendente in 1600 to provide plates for his ''Tabulae Pictae''.

Its first description is traditionally taken to be in 1641, possibly by Caspar Bartholin, where its discovery was attributed to

(1614–1672), professor of medicine at Leiden University in the book ''Casp. Bartolini Institutiones Anatomicae'' where it is noted that "F.S. .S. probably refers to Franciscus SylviusIf you examine the indentations which are represented in Figure 5 quite attentively, you will notice that they are very deep and that the brain is divided from one side to the other by the 'anfractuosa fissura,' which starts in the front part near the ocular roots, and from there moves backwards above the base of the spinal cord, following the temporal bones, and it divides the upper part of the brain from the lower." It seems likely, however, that, since Caspar Bartholin died in 1629 and Franciscus Sylvius only started medicine in 1632, these words are by either Caspar's son

Thomas Bartholin Thomas Bartholin (; Latinized as ''Thomas Bartholinus''; 20 October 1616 – 4 December 1680) was a Danish physician, mathematician, and theologian. He is best known for his work in the discovery of the lymphatic system in humans and for his ...

or Franciscus Sylvius himself. In 1663 in his ''Disputationem Medicarum'', Sylvius described the lateral fissure: "Particularly noticeable is the deep fissure or hiatus which begins at the roots of the eyes (oculorum radices) . . . it runs posteriorly above the temples as far as the roots of the brain stem (medulla radices). . . . It divides the cerebrum into an upper, larger part and a lower, smaller part".

In popular culture

Pop musician

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...

referred to depth psychologist

Carl Jung Carl Gustav Jung ( ; ; 26 July 1875 – 6 June 1961) was a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who founded analytical psychology. Jung's work has been influential in the fields of psychiatry, anthropology, archaeology, literature, phil ...

as "...crashing out with Sylvian" in his lyrics to " Drive In Saturday" released on his 1973 album ''Aladdin Sane''. In 2015, artist Tanja Stark suggested Bowie had drawn a cryptic link between Jung's waking hallucinatory visions (see '' The Red Book'') and the Sylvian fissure, a region discovered by that time to produce hallucinogenic visions and ‘paranormal’ perceptions when electrically stimulated and, presciently in 2006, to generate what neurologists called an ‘illusory shadow person’ or

doppelgänger A doppelgänger (), a compound noun formed by combining the two nouns (double) and (walker or goer) (), doppelgaenger or doppelganger is a biologically unrelated look-alike, or a double, of a living person. In fiction and mythology, a doppel ...

phenomenon; themselves highly charged and recurring Bowie archetypes (Penfield 1955; Arzy et al., 2006). Stark notes another song on that album " Oh You Pretty Things" sings of the hallucinatory spectre of .."a crack in the sky and a hand reaching down to me", evoking the iconic imagery of Michelangelo's painting

The Creation of Adam '' Creation of Adam'' () is a fresco painting by Italian artist Michelangelo, which forms part of the Sistine Chapel's ceiling, painted c. 1508–1512. It illustrates the Biblical creation narrative from the Book of Genesis in which God gives l ...

. Stark observes that the American Medical Journal reported that

Michelangelo Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (; 6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564), known as Michelangelo (), was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was in ...

's ''The Creation of Adam'' appears to conform deliberately to the neuroanatomical shape of the brain, its Sylvian fissure clearly evident, suggesting Michelangelo may have intentionally conflated theology with neurology ( Meshberger 1990: 1837). Others though, have likened the cloak to the

uterus The uterus (from Latin ''uterus'', plural ''uteri'') or womb () is the organ in the reproductive system of most female mammals, including humans that accommodates the embryonic and fetal development of one or more embryos until birth. The ...

and

umbilical cord In placental mammals, the umbilical cord (also called the navel string, birth cord or ''funiculus umbilicalis'') is a conduit between the developing embryo or fetus and the placenta. During prenatal development, the umbilical cord is physiolog ...

Additional images

File:Lateral sulcus.gif, Lateral sulcus shown in red (animation)

References

External links

The peri-sylvian aphasias

sylvian fissure
* http://www.uams.edu/radiology/education/residency/diagnostic/pdf/sylvian_cistern_RSNA2003.pdf {{Authority control Sulci (neuroanatomy)