What is it about?
The cerebellum contains most of the brain’s neurons and supports movement and cognition, yet it has been difficult to study in living humans because its cortex is extremely thin and tightly folded. We developed a high-resolution MRI framework that allows detailed, non-invasive imaging of the entire cerebellar cortex. Using this approach, we show that the cerebellum is not structurally uniform. Instead, different regions consistently vary in cortical thickness and blood vessel density, reflecting differences in the underlying cellular organization, particularly in the granular layer.
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Why is it important?
This work shows that the human cerebellar cortex has regional specialization tied to the metabolic demands, similar to the cerebral cortex. By enabling reliable measurements of cerebellar structure in living humans within practical scan times, our approach opens new opportunities to study how the cerebellum contributes to cognition and how it is affected in neurological diseases such as multiple sclerosis, ataxias, and Alzheimer’s disease, where cerebellar pathology has been difficult to assess in vivo.
Perspectives
Working on this study was exciting because it sheds light on a large yet underexplored part of the human brain: the cerebellar cortex is almost as large as the neocortex, but has remained largely inaccessible in living humans. By overcoming technical barriers in imaging and analysis, we hope this work helps bring the cerebellum into the forefront of human brain research and enables new insights into cognition and disease.
Nikos Priovoulos
Maastricht University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Mesoscale imaging of the human cerebellum reveals converging regional specialization of its morphology, vasculature, and cytoarchitecture, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, January 2026, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2516608123.
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