Brodmann area 4

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Brain: Brodmann area 4
Brodmann area 4 of human brain.
Lateral surface.
Part of Precentral gyrus
NeuroNames ancil-1043

Brodmann area 4 comprises the primary motor cortex of the human brain.

Brodmann area 4 is about the same as the precentral gyrus. The borders of this area are: the precentral sulcus in front (anteriorly), the medial longitudinal fissure at the top (medially), the central sulcus in back (posteriorly), and the lateral sulcus along the bottom (laterally).

This area of cortex, as shown by Wilder Penfield and others, has the pattern of a homunculus. That is, the legs and trunk fold over the midline; the arms and hands are along the middle of the area shown here; and the face is near the bottom of the figure. Because Brodmann area 4 is in the same general location as primary motor cortex, the homunculus here is called the motor homunculus.

The term area 4 of Brodmann-1909 refers to a cytoarchitecturally defined portion of the frontal lobe of the guenon. It is located predominantly in the precentral gyrus. Brodmann-1909 regarded it as topographically and cytoarchitecturally homologous to the human gigantopyramidal area 4 and noted that it occupies a much greater fraction of the frontal lobe in the monkey than in the human. Distinctive features (Brodmann-1905): the cortex is unusually thick; the layers are not distinct; the cells are relatively sparsely distributed; giant pyramidal (Betz) cells are present in the internal pyramidal layer (V); lack of an internal granular layer (IV) such that the boundary between the external pyramidal layer (III) and the internal pyramidal layer (V) is indistinct; lack of a distinct external granular layer (II); a gradual transition from the multiform layer (VI) to the subcortical white matter.

See also



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Some of the initial content on this page may be incorporated in part from copyleft sources in the public domain including wikis such as Wikipedia and AskDrWiki. Drug information for patients came from the The National Library of Medicine. Infectious disease information may have come from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Differential Diagnoses are drawn from clinicians as well as an amalgamation of 3 sources: 1.The Disease Database; 2. Kahan, Scott, Smith, Ellen G. In A Page: Signs and Symptoms. Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishing, 2004:3; 3. Sailer, Christian, Wasner, Susanne. Differential Diagnosis Pocket. Hermosa Beach, CA: Borm Bruckmeir Publishing LLC, 2002:7 .

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