Evidence map›Paper›PMID 29845013›Full record

ArticleNeuroImage. Clinical2018

The anatomy of the human medial forebrain bundle: Ventral tegmental area connections to reward-associated subcortical and frontal lobe regions.

Volker Arnd Coenen, Lena Valerie Schumacher, Christoph Kaller, Thomas Eduard Schlaepfer, Peter Christoph Reinacher, Karl Egger, Horst Urbach, Marco Reisert

Open access · goldAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in NeuroImage. Clinical, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 62 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
62citing papers in PubMed, 3 pooled it
9.2field-weighted citation impact, top 2% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

62 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 125 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Deep brain stimulation of the brainstem.Brain : a journal of neurology · 2021
    Pooled it
  3. Pooled it
  4. Superolateral medial forebrain bundle deep brain stimulation in major depression: a gateway trial.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2019
    Trial
  5. Trial
  6. Observational
  7. Target-Dependent Postoperative Weight Gain after Pallidothalamic Tractotomy versus Pallidotomy for Dystonia.Movement disorders : official journal of the Movement Disorder Society · 2026
    Article
  8. Article
  9. Article
  10. Article
  11. Article
  12. Article
  13. Article
  14. Prefrontal Network Mechanisms of Psychiatric Deep Brain Stimulation.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2025
    Review
  15. Article
  16. Review
  17. Article
  18. Article
  19. Article
  20. Article

2 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Volker Arnd CoenenDepartment of Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery, Medical Center, Freiburg University, Germany; Medical Faculty, Freiburg University, Germany. Electronic address: volker.coenen@uniklinik-freiburg.de.
Lena Valerie SchumacherDepartment of Neuroradiology, Medical Center, Freiburg University, Germany; Medical Faculty, Freiburg University, Germany; Medical Psychology and Medical Sociology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Germany.
Christoph KallerDepartment of Neurology, Medical Center, Freiburg University, Germany; Medical Faculty, Freiburg University, Germany.
Thomas Eduard SchlaepferDepartment of Interventional Biological Psychiatry, Medical Center, Freiburg University, Germany; Medical Faculty, Freiburg University, Germany.
Peter Christoph ReinacherDepartment of Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery, Medical Center, Freiburg University, Germany; Medical Faculty, Freiburg University, Germany.
Karl EggerDepartment of Neuroradiology, Medical Center, Freiburg University, Germany; Medical Faculty, Freiburg University, Germany.
Horst UrbachDepartment of Neuroradiology, Medical Center, Freiburg University, Germany; Medical Faculty, Freiburg University, Germany.
Marco ReisertDepartment of Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery, Medical Center, Freiburg University, Germany; Department of Medical Physics, Medical Center, Freiburg University, Germany; Medical Faculty, Freiburg University, Germany.
University Medical Center Freiburg · DEUniversity of Freiburg · DE

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Introduction: Despite their importance in reward, motivation, and learning there is only sparse anatomical knowledge about the human medial forebrain bundle (MFB) and the connectivity of the ventral tegmental area (VTA). A thorough anatomical and microstructural description of the reward related PFC/OFC regions and their connection to the VTA - the superolateral branch of the MFB (slMFB) - is however mandatory to enable an interpretation of distinct therapeutic effects from different interventional treatment modalities in neuropsychiatric disorders (DBS, TMS etc.). This work aims at a normative description of the human MFB (and more detailed the slMFB) anatomy with respect to distant prefrontal connections and microstructural features. Methods and material: Healthy subjects ( Results: The MFB could be robustly described both in the present sample as well as in additional control analyses in data from the human connectome project. Most VTA- connections reached the superior frontal gyrus, the middel frontal gyrus and the lateral orbitofrontal region corresponding to Brodmann areas 10, 9, 8, 11, and 11m. The projections to these regions comprised 97% (right) and 98% (left) of the total relative fiber counts of the slMFB. Discussion: The anatomical description of the human MFB shows far reaching connectivity of VTA to reward-related subcortical and cortical prefrontal regions - but not to emotion-related regions on the medial cortical surface - realized via the superolateral branch of the MFB. Local tractography approaches appear to be inferior in showing these far-reaching projections. Since these local approaches are typically used for surgical targeting of DBS procedures, the here established detailed map might - as a normative template - guide future efforts to target deep brain stimulation of the slMFB in depression and other disorders related to dysfunction of reward and reward-associated learning.

Indexed as

AdultDeep Brain StimulationDiffusion Tensor ImagingFemaleFrontal LobeHumansMagnetic Resonance ImagingMaleMedial Forebrain BundleMiddle AgedPrefrontal CortexVentral Tegmental AreaBrainDeep brain stimulationDepressionHumanMedial forebrain bundleNormal anatomyObsessive compulsive disorderTMS

Identifiers

PMID29845013
PMCPMC5964495
OpenAlexW2791876368

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.