Brodmann area 12

Brodmann area 12 is a subdivision of the cerebral cortex of the guenon defined on the basis of cytoarchitecture. It occupies the most rostral portion of the frontal lobe. Brodmann-1909 did not regard it as homologous, either topographically or cytoarchitecturally, to rostral area 12 of the human. Distinctive features (Brodmann-1905): a quite distinct internal granular layer (IV) separates slender pyramidal cells of the external pyramidal layer (III) and the internal pyramidal layer (V); the multiform layer (VI) is expanded, contains widely dispersed spindle cells and merges gradually with the underlying cortical white matter; all cells, including the pyramidal cells of the external and internal pyramidal layers are inordinately small; the internal pyramidal layer (V) also contains spindle cells in groups of two to five located close to its border with the internal granular layer (IV).