Bridging Histology and Tractography: First Visualization of the Short-Range Prefrontal Connections in the Human Brain

Abstract

Decades of histological research in non-human primates have revealed a dense web of short-range connections underpinning prefrontal cortex (PFC) function. However, translating this anatomical ground-truth to the living human brain has been a major challenge, leaving our understanding of the PFCs intrinsic wiring incomplete. These short-range fibers are difficult to resolve with non-invasive methods like diffusion tractography, which are often hampered by false positives. Here, we provide the first systematic in-vivo visualization of these pathways in the human brain. By informing high-resolution probabilistic tractography with established tract-tracing findings, we mapped 91 histologically-defined short-range connections within and between five major PFC subdivisions in 1,003 individuals (547 F, 456 M). Our anatomically-informed approach successfully reconstructed these intricate connections with high precision (>80%) and accuracy (>70%) relative to histological findings. The resulting tracts not only captured broad organizational principles but also replicated fine-grained patterns previously only seen in invasive studies. Furthermore, these connections showed high test-retest reliability within individuals alongside significant variability between them, highlighting a stable yet unique anatomical fingerprint. Ultimately, this study shows how linking histology to tractography provides a powerful framework to advance our understanding of the human connectome and opens avenues to investigate local circuitry that underpins cognition and disease.