{"title":"Correction: Emotive language activates right temporoparietal junction, while referential language activates the left hemispheric network.","authors":"Qiong Ma, Michiru Makuuchi","doi":"10.1007/s00429-026-03154-0","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00429-026-03154-0","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":9145,"journal":{"name":"Brain Structure & Function","volume":"231 7","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2026-07-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148547881","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Marina Di Stefano, Sara Mascheretti, Valentina Lampis, Matteo Di Segni, Chiara Mauri, Francesca Maccarone, Filippo Arrigoni, Denis Peruzzo
{"title":"Associations between READ1 deletion, reading proficiency, and white matter network organisation in children with and without developmental dyslexia.","authors":"Marina Di Stefano, Sara Mascheretti, Valentina Lampis, Matteo Di Segni, Chiara Mauri, Francesca Maccarone, Filippo Arrigoni, Denis Peruzzo","doi":"10.1007/s00429-026-03160-2","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00429-026-03160-2","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Developmental dyslexia (DD) is a common neurodevelopmental disorder, whose causes lie in genetic and neurobiological underpinnings. DCDC2 is one of the most replicated candidate genes underlying the etiology of reading (dis)abilities and has been associated with neural migration patterns. Although a deletion within intron 2 of the DCDC2, encompassing the entire READ1 (hereafter READ1d), has been reported to be linked to structural and functional brain alterations, its impact on white matter connectivity was not fully explored. In this study, we investigated how the READ1d influences white matter network organization and its relationship with reading ability. Seventy-four children (47 M/27 F, age in months: 161 ± 22) with/without a diagnosis of DD and with/without READ1d underwent diffusion MRI, from which graph-theoretical analysis was performed. Statistical analyses tested the effects of READ1d, reading proficiency, and their interaction, with age, sex, IQ, and attention scores included as covariates. Regardless of reading performance, subjects with READ1d showed nominally significant lower global efficiency, local efficiency, and clustering coefficient compared to subjects without READ1d, with consistent effect directions across metrics; the nodal analysis revealed a significant effect of READ1d on a network spanning lateral, occipital and frontal cortex. Reading performance was associated with a network in the left occipital-temporal cortex at the level of nodal degree and a scattered bilateral network for local efficiency. These findings are consistent with an association between READ1d carrier status and subtle but widespread differences in network integration and nodal connectivity, observed regardless of reading performance, and offer a framework for future multimodal investigations into the genetic architecture of reading disorders.</p>","PeriodicalId":9145,"journal":{"name":"Brain Structure & Function","volume":"231 7","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2026-07-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13385012/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148519795","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Sensory maps in the telencephalic pallium of goldfish.","authors":"F M Ocaña, A Gómez, C Salas, F Rodríguez","doi":"10.1007/s00429-026-03155-z","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00429-026-03155-z","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The functional organization of the teleost telencephalic pallium remains poorly understood, particularly regarding the presence of modality-specific sensory domains and their topographic arrangement. Here, we used in vivo wide-field voltage-sensitive dye imaging to map sensory-evoked neural activity across the dorsal surface of the telencephalic pallium of adult goldfish. Somatosensory, auditory, gustatory, and visual stimulation revealed distinct, modality-specific domains located within the dorsomedial (Dm) and dorsolateral (Dl) pallium, that closely matched cytoarchitectural boundaries. Within Dm, somatosensory and auditory stimuli activated partially overlapping territories in the caudal subregion (Dm4), exhibiting clear somatotopic and tonotopic organization along the mediolateral axis. Gustatory stimulation selectively engaged Dm3, where different tastants activated spatially distinct but partially overlapping domains. A more rostral subregion (Dm2) responded only to high-intensity somatosensory stimulation, suggesting involvement in processing negatively valenced inputs, whereas the adjacent Dm1 remained unresponsive to all sensory modalities tested. Visual stimulation activated a circumscribed area within the dorsolateral pallium (Dld2). Pharmacological blockade of ionotropic glutamate receptors markedly reduced sensory-evoked responses, indicating that these maps depend on glutamatergic synaptic transmission. Together, these findings reveal a more elaborate and functionally differentiated pallial organization than previously recognized and provide the first direct evidence for modality-specific topographic sensory maps in the teleost pallium. More broadly, they offer a new framework for understanding how sensory, affective, and mnemonic functions are organized within the teleost pallium and for comparing this organization with distributed pallial systems in other vertebrates.</p>","PeriodicalId":9145,"journal":{"name":"Brain Structure & Function","volume":"231 7","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2026-07-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13380557/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148497182","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Georgios P D Argyropoulos, Christopher R Butler, Manojkumar Saranathan
{"title":"Toward reliable thalamic segmentation: an evaluation of automated methods for structural MRI.","authors":"Georgios P D Argyropoulos, Christopher R Butler, Manojkumar Saranathan","doi":"10.1007/s00429-026-03163-z","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00429-026-03163-z","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Automated thalamic nuclear segmentation has contributed towards a shift in neuroimaging analyses, from treating the thalamus as a homogeneous, passive relay, to a set of individual nuclei, embedded within distinct brain-wide circuits. However, many studies continue to widely rely on FreeSurfer's segmentation of T1-weighted structural MRIs, despite their poor intrathalamic nuclear contrast. Meanwhile, a convolutional neural network tool has been developed for FreeSurfer, using information from both diffusion and T1-weighted MRIs. Another popular thalamic nuclear segmentation technique is HIPS-THOMAS, a multi-atlas-based method that leverages white-matter-like contrast synthesized from T1-weighted MRIs. However, comparisons amongst methods remain scant, and the thalamic atlases against which these methods have been assessed have their own limitations. These issues may compromise the quality of cross-species comparisons, structural and functional connectivity studies in health and disease, as well as the efficacy of neuromodulatory interventions targeting the thalamus. Here, we report, for the first time, comparisons amongst HIPS-THOMAS, the standard FreeSurfer segmentation, and its more recent development, against two thalamic atlases. We used two cohorts of healthy adults, and one cohort of patients in the chronic phase of autoimmune limbic encephalitis. In healthy adults, HIPS-THOMAS surpassed, not only the standard FreeSurfer segmentation, but also its more recent, diffusion-based update. The improvements made with the latter were limited to a few nuclei. Finally, the standard FreeSurfer method underperformed in distinguishing between patients and healthy controls based on the affected anteroventral and pulvinar nuclei. We provide recommendations on automated segmentation methods of the human thalamus using structural brain imaging.</p>","PeriodicalId":9145,"journal":{"name":"Brain Structure & Function","volume":"231 7","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2026-07-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13380577/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148497172","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Mingrui Zhang, Su Ma, Hanbo Guo, Yuehan Ji, Hong Ni, Rongjing Ge, Yuanyuan Wang, Yong Jiang, Lianjun Li, Yuyang Zhu, Qian Wang, Lingxiao Guo, Jianhong Liu, Jiandong Yu
{"title":"Brain-wide mapping and region-specific cellular characterization of Trhr1 reporter-labeled cells in mice using VISoR imaging.","authors":"Mingrui Zhang, Su Ma, Hanbo Guo, Yuehan Ji, Hong Ni, Rongjing Ge, Yuanyuan Wang, Yong Jiang, Lianjun Li, Yuyang Zhu, Qian Wang, Lingxiao Guo, Jianhong Liu, Jiandong Yu","doi":"10.1007/s00429-026-03151-3","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00429-026-03151-3","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Thyrotropin-releasing hormone receptor 1 (TRHR1, encoded by Trhr, also referred to as Trhr1 in rodents) is a key component of the hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid axis and has also been implicated in emotion, cognition, and stress-related regulation. However, the brain-wide distribution and cellular characteristics of Trhr1 reporter-labeled cells in the central nervous system remain incompletely understood. In this study, we generated Trhr-P2A-iCre; R26-tdTomato mice to genetically label Trhr1 reporter-labeled cells and combined this strategy with tissue clearing and volumetric imaging with synchronized on-the-fly scan and readout (VISoR) to construct a high-resolution brain-wide map. Quantitative analysis revealed that Trhr1 reporter-labeled cells were broadly distributed throughout the adult mouse brain, with marked regional heterogeneity. Higher densities were observed in the olfactory bulb, prefrontal cortex, striatum, hypothalamus, and amygdala, whereas lower densities were found in the hippocampus, thalamus, midbrain/brainstem, and cerebellum. Further immunofluorescence analysis indicated that Trhr1 reporter-labeled cells were predominantly neuronal in the examined regions, showing frequent co-localization with NeuN but not with Iba1 or GFAP. Many tdTomato-positive cells in selected cortical, amygdalar, and striatal regions co-localized with CaMKII, whereas overlap with PV or SST was limited; in the dentate gyrus, many co-localized with Prox1, indicating a granule-cell identity. Together, these findings provide a brain-wide anatomical map and region-specific cellular profile of Trhr1 reporter-labeled cells and establish a structural foundation for future studies of TRHR1-related neural circuits and functions.</p>","PeriodicalId":9145,"journal":{"name":"Brain Structure & Function","volume":"231 7","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2026-07-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148468889","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The prefrontal cortex across scales: laminar architecture, white-matter constraints, and distributed control in cognition.","authors":"Fabio Eduardo Lozano, Jesús Martín-Fernandez","doi":"10.1007/s00429-026-03158-w","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00429-026-03158-w","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The prefrontal cortex (PFC) is often treated as the anatomical seat of executive control. We defend a distributed but structurally constrained account. The PFC is not an exclusive executive locus; it is a transient and structurally tuned cortical interface in which laminar differentiation, molecular tuning, recurrent synaptic persistence, thalamocortical embedding, and long-range connectivity converge to support context-sensitive control. We review prefrontal organization across genomic and transcriptomic patterning, receptor architecture, synaptic and interneuronal organization, laminar microcircuitry, white-matter constraints, and large-scale network dynamics. We argue that canonical cortical motifs are prefrontally parameterized toward four operations: convergence, filtering, maintenance, and feedback. Inputs are selected through molecularly tuned and inhibitory-gated laminar compartments; task-relevant states are stabilized through recurrent, neuromodulation-sensitive synaptic regimes; and selected states are exported through deep-layer corticocortical, corticostriatal, and corticothalamic channels. Evidence from gradual cortical damage, particularly low-grade glioma, suggests that preserved cognition after prefrontal injury is better explained by network-constrained functional reinstantiation than by strict regional essentialism. Yet compensation should not be equated with unconstrained migration of function; whether it depends on partial microcircuital convergence, synaptic re-weighting, network redistribution, or a combination of these mechanisms remains an open empirical question. Finally, we organize these mechanisms across encoding, maintenance/manipulation, and retrieval, arguing that prefrontal participation is temporally structured rather than statically localized. Progress will require a spatiotemporal multiscale atlas linking molecularly parameterized laminar motifs, tract engagement, and network interactions across cognitive stages.</p>","PeriodicalId":9145,"journal":{"name":"Brain Structure & Function","volume":"231 7","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2026-07-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148468884","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Neural substrates of cognitive decline and tremor in neuronal intranuclear inclusion disease: a morphometric MRI study.","authors":"Yahui Ouyang, Jiehuan Wang, ChongChong Li, Guorong Zhang, Shujun Zhang","doi":"10.1007/s00429-026-03157-x","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00429-026-03157-x","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Neuronal intranuclear inclusion disease (NIID) is a rare neurodegenerative disorder characterized primarily by progressive cognitive decline and tremor. While these clinical features are well-recognized, the specific structural neural substrates and morphometric alterations underlying these symptoms remain poorly understood. This prospective study included 10 genetically confirmed NIID patients and 10 age- and sex-matched controls. Following high-resolution T1-weighted MRI and MoCA-based cognitive assessment, atlas-based morphometry was utilized to characterize gray-matter alterations. The analytical workflow prioritized identifying global atrophy patterns between groups, followed by correlation analyses between identified atrophic regions and clinical markers (MoCA scores and disease onset). Additionally, subgroup comparisons were conducted within the patient cohort to identify the neural correlates of tremor. Compared with healthy controls, NIID patients exhibited widespread gray-matter atrophy primarily involving the extensive temporal and occipital cortices, limbic and paralimbic regions (including the cingulate gyri, hippocampus, and amygdala), and the thalamus (Bonferroni-corrected, p < 0.05). Notably, lower MoCA scores were significantly associated with reduced volumes in the left hippocampus and the left temporal pole (extending to the superior and middle temporal gyri) (all p < 0.05). Earlier disease onset was correlated with the relative preservation of the left thalamus (r = -0.755, p = 0.019). Finally, patients manifesting tremor displayed significantly diminished gray-matter volume in the right hippocampus compared to tremor-free patients (t = 2.472, p = 0.039). Distinct morphometric substrates underpin cognitive dysfunction and tremor in NIID. Cognitive decline is primarily associated with atrophy in the left hippocampus and temporal regions, whereas tremor manifestation is linked to right hippocampal volume loss. These findings elucidate the neuroanatomical basis of NIID's core symptoms and highlight regional brain atrophy as a potential imaging biomarker for disease monitoring and future therapeutic trials.</p>","PeriodicalId":9145,"journal":{"name":"Brain Structure & Function","volume":"231 7","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2026-07-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148468843","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Houda Nashawi, Corey T Foltz, Nakyung Oh, Eve A Santiago, Dana R Selm, James P Herman, Yvonne M Ulrich-Lai
{"title":"Limited sucrose intake produces subregion-specific remodeling of perineuronal nets in the medial prefrontal cortex.","authors":"Houda Nashawi, Corey T Foltz, Nakyung Oh, Eve A Santiago, Dana R Selm, James P Herman, Yvonne M Ulrich-Lai","doi":"10.1007/s00429-026-03141-5","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00429-026-03141-5","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Despite growing recognition that natural rewards can mitigate stress responses, the underlying neurobiological mechanisms remain poorly understood. Here, we examined whether limited sucrose intake (LSI), a paradigm of repeated natural food reward, induces structural plasticity in parvalbumin-expressing (PV+) interneurons and their perineuronal nets (PNNs) within the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), a key region involved in stress and reward regulation. In a 2 × 2 design, adult male rats were exposed to 14 days of LSI (vs. water), along with repeated restraint stress (vs. no stress). Immunohistochemical analyses were used to assess PV+ interneurons, PNNs, and glutamatergic and GABAergic perisomatic appositions onto PV+ neurons in the prelimbic (PL) and infralimbic (IL) prefrontal cortices. While repeated restraint stress produced minimal effects, LSI induced subregion-specific changes. In the PL, LSI increased PNN investment on PV+ cells and reduced both excitatory and inhibitory appositions without altering their ratio. In contrast, in the IL, LSI shifted PNNs from full to partial forms without changing their overall prevalence. This was associated with an increased excitatory/inhibitory apposition ratio that was restricted to PNN-negative cells in stress-naïve rats. While the functional consequences remain to be established, these LSI-induced PNN-mediated changes may serve to stabilize PV+ interneuron function and inform hypotheses regarding how natural rewards modulate prefrontal microcircuits relevant to stress regulation.</p>","PeriodicalId":9145,"journal":{"name":"Brain Structure & Function","volume":"231 7","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2026-07-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13372925/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148444407","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Brandon K Richards, Alexander I J Kilby, Jennifer L Cornish, Jee Hyun Kim, Andrew J Lawrence, Christina J Perry
{"title":"Efferent projections of topographically distinct relaxin family peptide receptor-3 (RXFP3) lateral hypothalamus/zona incerta cells.","authors":"Brandon K Richards, Alexander I J Kilby, Jennifer L Cornish, Jee Hyun Kim, Andrew J Lawrence, Christina J Perry","doi":"10.1007/s00429-026-03146-0","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00429-026-03146-0","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Relaxin family peptide receptor-3 (RXFP3) is a ligand-activated G-protein coupled receptor and the cognate receptor for the conserved neuropeptide relaxin-3. We recently demonstrated that chemogenetically activating an RXFP3-expressing population in the lateral hypothalamus and zona incerta (LH/ZI<sup>RXFP3</sup>) induced escape-like jumping behaviour following fear conditioning, but only in a subset of mice. Given the diverse hodology of the LH and ZI, we hypothesised that LH/ZI<sup>RXFP3</sup> cells may consist of discrete subpopulations with unique connectivity patterns that govern different aspects of defensive behaviour. To explore this possibility, we unilaterally injected small volumes of a Cre-dependent anterograde viral tracer into four distinct sites of the LH/ZI in RXFP3-Cre mice and analysed their brain-wide efferent connectivity patterns. Each injection site group produced unique projection patterns, particularly to nuclei involved in threat and defensive behaviour. Of note were strong projections from the rostral ZI and anterior LH to the lateral habenula, and projections from the intermediate and caudal ZI to the ventrolateral periaqueductal gray. By combining retrograde tracing and RNAscope fluorescent in situ hybridisation, we identified that most LH/ZI<sup>RXFP3</sup> projections to the lateral habenula arose from a subset of vGlut2-expressing lateral hypothalamus neurons, while most projections to the ventrolateral periaqueductal gray arose from a subset of GAD1-expressing zona incerta neurons. Taken together, our results strongly suggest that LH/ZI<sup>RXFP3</sup> cells exhibit distinct efferent projection patterns throughout the brain depending on their topographical location within these nuclei, likely reflecting the functional diversity of these neurons.</p>","PeriodicalId":9145,"journal":{"name":"Brain Structure & Function","volume":"231 7","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2026-07-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13372858/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148444346","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Maximiliano Torres-Pérez, Fernando de Castro, Giselle Prunell
{"title":"Eriochrome Cyanine R revisited: a standardized myelin stain protocol for thick sections of the central & peripheral nervous system across species, pathologies and disease models.","authors":"Maximiliano Torres-Pérez, Fernando de Castro, Giselle Prunell","doi":"10.1007/s00429-026-03149-x","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00429-026-03149-x","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Myelin enables rapid action potential conduction and axonal support, and its disruption underlies diverse neurological disorders. Its assessment is essential for studying development, plasticity, and repair of the nervous system (NS), and for diagnosing demyelinating diseases and evaluating remyelination therapies. Multiple histological methods detect myelin, each with trade-offs in sensitivity, cost, and reproducibility. Among them, Eriochrome Cyanine R (EC-R) is a simple, affordable myelin stain widely used in thin sections, but remains poorly standardized, and underexplored in thick vibratome sections. Here we describe and validate a simple, inexpensive, solvent-free EC-R protocol for central and peripheral nervous system tissue across seven vertebrate species and multiple demyelinating conditions. The method replaces subjective microscopic differentiation with fixed, time-controlled incubations scaled to section thickness, improving reproducibility. Using perfusion and immersion-fixed samples, we show that the protocol yields homogeneous myelin labeling with sharp white/gray matter contrast in whole brains, cortical slabs, spinal cord, and peripheral nerves. Thick sections stained with EC-R preserve 3-dimensional tissue architecture, resolve single myelinated axons and intracortical bands, and can be combined with Nissl-like counterstains and immunohistochemistry. Developmental series in neonatal rats reveal expected PNS-CNS myelination gradients, while experimental demyelination models and naturally occurring diseases (canine distemper and human multiple sclerosis) illustrate the method's ability to delineate lesion cores, perilesional gradients, and associated glial and immune activation. This standardized EC-R approach provides a robust and versatile tool for comparative neuroanatomy, experimental neuropathology, and translational studies of myelination, demyelination, and remyelination, as well as for the clinical diagnosis of myelin-related disorders.</p>","PeriodicalId":9145,"journal":{"name":"Brain Structure & Function","volume":"231 7","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2026-07-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148435295","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}