Middle temporal gyrus
Citation, DOI, disclosures and article data
At the time the article was created Daniel Loh had no recorded disclosures.
View Daniel Loh's current disclosuresAt the time the article was last revised Rohit Sharma had no financial relationships to ineligible companies to disclose.
View Rohit Sharma's current disclosuresThe middle temporal gyrus is one of three gyri on the lateral surface of the temporal lobe.
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Gross anatomy
The middle temporal gyrus is bounded dorsally by the superior temporal sulcus and superior temporal gyrus and ventrally by the inferior temporal sulcus and inferior temporal gyrus. It extends posteriorly from the temporal pole, blending into the parietal and occipital lobes with the limits defined by an arbitrary line, the lateral parietotemporal line 1.
Blood supply
The middle temporal gyrus is supplied by all 4 temporal branches of the middle cerebral artery that emerge from the lateral sulcus 1,2.
Function
Tractography-based parcellation of the MTG identified four distinct subregions based on anatomical connectivity, with each subregion involved in unique functions 3:
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anterior middle temporal gyrus (aMTG)
sound recognition and semantic retrieval
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middle middle temporal gyrus (mMTG)
semantic memory
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posterior middle temporal gyrus (pMTG)
language processing
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sulcus middle temporal gyrus (sMTG)
decoding gaze direction and intelligible speech and processing of verbal mental arithmetic
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Related pathology
Lesions in the pMTG result in deficits in language comprehension (Wernicke's aphasia) 4.
Quiz questions
References
- 1. Kiernan JA. Anatomy of the temporal lobe. Epilepsy Res Treat. 2012;2012: 176157. doi:10.1155/2012/176157 - Free text at pubmed - Pubmed citation
- 2. De Long WB. Anatomy of the middle cerebral artery: the temporal branches. Stroke. 1973;4 (3): 412-8. Pubmed citation
- 3. Xu J, Wang J, Fan L et-al. Tractography-based Parcellation of the Human Middle Temporal Gyrus. Sci Rep. 2015;5: 18883. doi:10.1038/srep18883 - Free text at pubmed - Pubmed citation
- 4. Hoffman P, Pobric G, Drakesmith M, Lambon Ralph MA. Posterior middle temporal gyrus is involved in verbal and non-verbal semantic cognition: Evidence from rTMS. Aphasiology. 2012; 26 (9): 1119-1130 doi:10.1080/02687038.2011.608838
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