Evolution of cortical neurons supporting human cognition

A. A. Galakhova; S. Hunt; R. Wilbers; D. B. Heyer; C. P.J. de Kock; H. D. Mansvelder; N. A. Goriounova

doi:10.1016/j.tics.2022.08.012

Evolution of cortical neurons supporting human cognition

A. A. Galakhova, S. Hunt, R. Wilbers, D. B. Heyer, C. P.J. de Kock, H. D. Mansvelder, N. A. Goriounova^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to Journal › Review article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

Human cognitive abilities are generally thought to arise from cortical expansion over the course of human brain evolution. In addition to increased neuron numbers, this cortical expansion might be driven by adaptations in the properties of single neurons and their local circuits. We review recent findings on the distinct structural, functional, and transcriptomic features of human cortical neurons and their organization in cortical microstructure. We focus on the supragranular cortical layers, which showed the most prominent expansion during human brain evolution, and the properties of their principal cells: pyramidal neurons. We argue that the evolutionary adaptations in neuronal features that accompany the expansion of the human cortex partially underlie interindividual variability in human cognitive abilities.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	909-922
Number of pages	14
Journal	Trends in Cognitive Sciences
Volume	26
Issue number	11
Early online date	15 Sept 2022
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2022.08.012
Publication status	Published - Nov 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We thank Matthijs Verhoog for providing the image displayed in Figure 1 . The work was supported by several grant awards, including award U01MH114812 from National Institute of Mental Health , grant no. 945539 (Human Brain Project SGA3) from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, and NWO Gravitation program BRAINSCAPES: A Roadmap from Neurogenetics to Neurobiology (NWO: 024.004.012) and VI.Vidi.213.014 grant from The Dutch Research Council (NWO).

Funding Information:
We thank Matthijs Verhoog for providing the image displayed in Figure 1. The work was supported by several grant awards, including award U01MH114812 from National Institute of Mental Health, grant no. 945539 (Human Brain Project SGA3) from the European Union's Horizon 2020 Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, and NWO Gravitation program BRAINSCAPES: A Roadmap from Neurogenetics to Neurobiology (NWO: 024.004.012) and VI.Vidi.213.014 grant from The Dutch Research Council (NWO). No interests are declared.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Author(s)

Funding

We thank Matthijs Verhoog for providing the image displayed in Figure 1 . The work was supported by several grant awards, including award U01MH114812 from National Institute of Mental Health , grant no. 945539 (Human Brain Project SGA3) from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, and NWO Gravitation program BRAINSCAPES: A Roadmap from Neurogenetics to Neurobiology (NWO: 024.004.012) and VI.Vidi.213.014 grant from The Dutch Research Council (NWO). We thank Matthijs Verhoog for providing the image displayed in Figure 1. The work was supported by several grant awards, including award U01MH114812 from National Institute of Mental Health, grant no. 945539 (Human Brain Project SGA3) from the European Union's Horizon 2020 Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, and NWO Gravitation program BRAINSCAPES: A Roadmap from Neurogenetics to Neurobiology (NWO: 024.004.012) and VI.Vidi.213.014 grant from The Dutch Research Council (NWO). No interests are declared.

Funders	Funder number
European Union's Horizon 2020 Framework Programme for Research and Innovation
European Union’s Horizon 2020 Framework Programme for Research and Innovation
National Institute of Mental Health	U01MH114812, 945539
Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek	024.004.012

Keywords

cognition
cortical neurons
evolution
human cortex
human pyramidal neurons
intelligence

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10.1016/j.tics.2022.08.012

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abstract = "Human cognitive abilities are generally thought to arise from cortical expansion over the course of human brain evolution. In addition to increased neuron numbers, this cortical expansion might be driven by adaptations in the properties of single neurons and their local circuits. We review recent findings on the distinct structural, functional, and transcriptomic features of human cortical neurons and their organization in cortical microstructure. We focus on the supragranular cortical layers, which showed the most prominent expansion during human brain evolution, and the properties of their principal cells: pyramidal neurons. We argue that the evolutionary adaptations in neuronal features that accompany the expansion of the human cortex partially underlie interindividual variability in human cognitive abilities.",

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note = "Funding Information: We thank Matthijs Verhoog for providing the image displayed in Figure 1 . The work was supported by several grant awards, including award U01MH114812 from National Institute of Mental Health , grant no. 945539 (Human Brain Project SGA3) from the European Union{\textquoteright}s Horizon 2020 Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, and NWO Gravitation program BRAINSCAPES: A Roadmap from Neurogenetics to Neurobiology (NWO: 024.004.012) and VI.Vidi.213.014 grant from The Dutch Research Council (NWO). Funding Information: We thank Matthijs Verhoog for providing the image displayed in Figure 1. The work was supported by several grant awards, including award U01MH114812 from National Institute of Mental Health, grant no. 945539 (Human Brain Project SGA3) from the European Union's Horizon 2020 Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, and NWO Gravitation program BRAINSCAPES: A Roadmap from Neurogenetics to Neurobiology (NWO: 024.004.012) and VI.Vidi.213.014 grant from The Dutch Research Council (NWO). No interests are declared. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2022 The Author(s)",

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AU - Goriounova, N. A.

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Evolution of cortical neurons supporting human cognition

Abstract

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