Paleocortex in the context of "Telencephalon"

The allocortex (from Latin allo-, meaning other, and cortex, meaning bark or crust), or heterogenetic cortex, is one of the two types of cerebral cortex in the brain, together with the neocortex. In the human brain, the allocortex is the much smaller area of cortex taking up just 10%; the neocortex takes up the remaining 90%. It is characterized by having just three cortical layers (one main neural layer), in contrast with the six cortical layers of the neocortex. There are three subtypes of allocortex: the paleocortex, the archicortex, and the periallocortex—a transitional zone between the neocortex and the allocortex.

The specific regions of the brain usually described as belonging to the allocortex are the olfactory system and the hippocampus.

The archicortex, or archipallium, is the phylogenetically second oldest region of the brain's cerebral cortex (the oldest is the paleocortex). In older species, such as fish, the archipallium makes up most of the cerebrum. Amphibians develop an archipallium and paleopallium.

In humans, the archicortex makes up the three cortical layers of the hippocampus. It has fewer cortical layers than both the neocortex, which has six, and the paleocortex, which has either four or five. The archicortex, along with the paleocortex and periallocortex, is a subtype of allocortex. Because the number of cortical layers that make up a type of cortical tissue seems to be directly proportional to both the information-processing capabilities of that tissue and its phylogenetic age, the archicortex is thought to be the oldest and most basic type of cortical tissue.

Periallocortex is one of three subtypes of allocortex, the other two subtypes being paleocortex and archicortex. The periallocortex is formed at transition areas where any of the other two subtypes of allocortex borders with the neocortex (which is also called isocortex).

Thus, the periallocortex is also subdivided to two subtypes. One subtype is called peripaleocortex, which is formed at borders between paleocortex and neocortex. Areas considered to belong to peripaleocortex are for example anterior insular cortex. Another subtype of periallocortex is called periarchicortex. It is formed at borders between archicortex and neocortex. Areas considered to belong to periarchicortex include entorhinal cortex, perirhinal cortex, presubiculum, parasubiculum, retrosplenial cortex, subcallosal area and subgenual area.

Peripaleocortex is one of two subtypes of periallocortex, the other being periarchicortex. Peripaleocortex is formed at borders between isocortex (neocortex) and paleocortex (a subtype of allocortex). It shows slow histological transition from the three-layered structure characteristic of paleocortex to the typical six-layered structure characteristic of isocortex. The main peripaleocortex area is anterior insular cortex.

Peripaleocortex does not histologically transit directly to the true isocortex. Instead, at borders between peripaleocortex and isocortex, there are other transitional areas from the isocortex side, called proisocortex. Thus, at borders between paleocortex and isocortex, there are two transitional areas. One transitional area, which is anatomically located closer to the paleocortex side and histologically, too, more resembling "true" paleocortex, is called peripaleocortex area. Another transitional area, which is anatomically located close to the true isocortex side and histologically more resembling it too, is called proisocortex area.

In animal anatomy, the rhinencephalon (from the Greek, ῥίς, rhis = "nose", and ἐγκέφαλος, enkephalos = "brain"), also called the smell-brain or olfactory brain, is a part of the brain involved with smell (i.e. olfaction). It forms the paleocortex in the human brain.