thumb|right|[[Micrograph showing a von Economo neuron of the cingulate. HE-LFB stain.]]

Von Economo neurons, also called spindle neurons, are a specific class of mammalian cortical neurons characterized by a large spindle-shaped soma (or body) gradually tapering into a single apical axon (the ramification that transmits signals) in one direction, with only a single dendrite (the ramification that receives signals) facing opposite. Other cortical neurons tend to have many dendrites, and the bipolar-shaped morphology of von Economo neurons is unique here.

Von Economo neurons are found in two very restricted regions in the brains of hominids (humans and other great apes): the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and the fronto-insular cortex (FI) (which each make up the salience network). In 2008, they were also found in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex of humans. Von Economo neurons are also found in the brains of a number of cetaceans, and to a lesser extent in macaque monkeys, raccoons, the white-tailed deer, the pygmy hippopotamus, as well as domestic sheep and cows. VENs are also present in both African and Asian elephants, but are restricted to the anterior cingulate cortex of the Asian elephant and the anterior insula, frontal pole, and dorsolateral frontal region of the African elephant. The appearance of von Economo neurons in distantly related clades suggests that they represent convergent evolution of specialized pyramidal neurons in response to hitherto unidentified selective forces.

Evolutionary function and significance

Although von Economo neurons initially attracted significant interest because it was believed that they were restricted to highly encephalized or socially complex species such as hominids, odontocetes, and elephants, this was revised by later research which discovered VENs in a wider range of mammalian species and taxa, including macaques, domestic sheep, cows, the pygmy hippopotamus, and white-tailed deer, suggesting a more basal function among various mammalian clades, although the precise function and selection pressures remain unknown and contested.

The distribution of VENs among cetacean species likewise contradicts any neat pattern linking VENs to increased cognition or social complexity. While VENs have a limited distribution among most cetacean species, they are most dense and ubiquitous across all cortical regions in the bowhead whale, which is the least encephalized of all cetaceans and lives a predominantly solitary lifestyle as most mysticetes do.

Allman and his colleagues have delved beyond the level of brain infrastructure to investigate how von Economo neurons function at the superstructural level, focusing on their role as "air traffic controllers for emotions ... at the heart of the human social emotion circuitry, including a moral sense". Allman's team proposes that von Economo neurons help channel neural signals from deep within the cortex to relatively distant parts of the brain.

In humans, intense emotion activates the anterior cingulate cortex, as it relays neural signals transmitted from the amygdala (a primary processing center for emotions) to the frontal cortex, perhaps by functioning as a sort of lens to focus the complex texture of neural signal interference patterns. The ACC is also active during demanding tasks requiring judgement and discrimination and when errors are detected by an individual. During difficult tasks, or when experiencing intense love, anger, or lust, activation of the ACC increases. In brain imaging studies, the ACC has specifically been found to be active when mothers hear infants cry, underscoring its role in affording a heightened degree of social sensitivity.

The ACC is a relatively ancient cortical region and is involved with many autonomic functions, including motor and digestive functions, while also playing a role in the regulation of blood pressure and heart rate. Significant olfactory and gustatory capabilities of the ACC and fronto-insular cortex appear to have been usurped, during recent evolution, to serve enhanced roles related to higher cognitionranging from planning and self-awareness to role-playing and deception.

<span id="Fronto-insular spindle neurons"></span>In the fronto-insular cortex

At a Society for Neuroscience meeting in 2003, Allman reported on von Economo neurons his team found in another brain region, the fronto-insular cortex, a region which appears to have undergone significant evolutionary adaptations in mankindperhaps as recently as 100,000 years ago.

This fronto-insular cortex is closely connected to the insula, a region that is roughly the size of a thumb in each hemisphere of the human brain. The insula and fronto-insular cortex are part of the insular cortex, wherein the elaborate circuitry associated with spatial awareness are found, and where self-awareness and the complexities of emotion are thought to be generated and experienced. Moreover, this region of the right hemisphere is crucial to navigation and perception of three-dimensional rotations.

<span id="Spindle neuron concentrations"></span>Concentrations

<span id="ACC"></span>Anterior cingulate cortex

The largest number of ACC von Economo neurons are found in humans, fewer in the gracile great apes, and fewest in the robust great apes. In both humans and bonobos they are often found in clusters of 3 to 6 neurons. They are found in humans, chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans, some cetaceans, and elephants. While total quantities of ACC von Economo neurons were not reported by Allman in his seminal research report (as they were in a later report describing their presence in the frontoinsular cortex, below), his team's initial analysis of the ACC layer V in hominids revealed an average of ~9 von Economo neurons per section for orangutans (rare, 0.6% of section cells), ~22 for gorillas (frequent, 2.3%), ~37 for chimpanzees (abundant, 3.8%), ~68 for bonobos (abundant/clusters, 4.8%), ~89 for humans (abundant/clusters, 5.6%). An initial study suggested that Alzheimer's disease specifically targeted von Economo neurons; this study was performed with end-stage Alzheimer brains in which cell destruction was widespread, but later it was found that Alzheimer's disease does not affect the von Economo neurons.

See also

  • List of distinct cell types in the adult human body

References

;General References

  • TaipeiTimes.comKnow Thyself and Others
  • "Well-wired whales" Michael Balter (2006) ScienceNOW Daily News. 27 November
  • "Brain Cells for Socializing" Smithsonian, June 2009