- Pars opercularis
Infobox Brain
Name = PAGENAME
Latin = pars opercularis gyri frontalis inferioris
GraySubject =
GrayPage =
Caption = Lateral surface of left cerebral hemisphere, viewed from the side. (Pars opercularis visible near center).
Caption2 =Brodmann area 44
IsPartOf =Inferior frontal gyrus Broca's area
Components =
Artery = Middle cerebral
Vein =
Acronym = OpIFG
BrainInfoType = hier
BrainInfoNumber = 69
MeshName =
MeshNumber =
DorlandsPre = p_07
DorlandsSuf = 12617331
In thehuman brain the Pars opercularis (literally "the part that covers") is the part of theinferior frontal gyrus that lies between the inferior precentral sulcus and the ascending ramus of the lateral sulcus. It is called "opercularis" because it covers part of the insula. The pars opercularis together with thepars triangularis formBroca's area .Relationship to autism
Abnormal blood flow in the Pars opercularis has been shown to be an indicator for
autism . Previous theories had tied autism to abnormalities in thecerebellum , due to the fascination with spinning exhibited by autistic children. [http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=00038F3F-B28F-1C59-B882809EC588ED9F 1]: "Neuroscientist Mirella Dapretto of the
University of California Los Angeles and her colleagues surveyed the brains of 10 autistic children and an equal number of nonautistic children as they watched and imitated 80 different faces displaying either anger, fear, happiness, sadness or no emotion. By measuring the amount of blood flow (Blood-oxygen-level dependent ) to certain regions of the children's brains usingfunctional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) technology, the researchers could determine what parts of the brain were being used as the subjects completed the tasks. The autistic children differed from their peers in only one respect: each showed reduced activity in the pars opercularis of the inferior frontal gyrus--a brain region located near the temple." [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4501152.stm 2]ee also
*
Broca's area
*Operculum (brain)
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