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Projections from cingulate cortex to the cat’s thalamic reticular nucleus

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 August 2011

THOMAS FITZGIBBON*
Affiliation:
Discipline of Anatomy & Histology, School of Medical Sciences and Bosch Institute, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
NICK KIKUCHI
Affiliation:
Discipline of Anatomy & Histology, School of Medical Sciences and Bosch Institute, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
*
*Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Thomas FitzGibbon, Discipline of Anatomy & Histology (F13) and Bosch Institute for Biomedical Research, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia. E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract

The cingulate cortex (CG) and the adjacent region designated as the splenial visual area (SVA) project to areas of the extrageniculate thalamic system that are concerned with processing visual information. En route to the thalamus, they pass through the thalamic reticular nucleus (TRN), an important source of thalamic inhibition. We wished to determine whether SVA axon collaterals projected to the previously defined visual sector of the TRN or a separate projection zone and did this differ from the projection zone of CG. We iontophoretically injected different neuroanatomical tracers into several locations within CG/SVA and traced the labeled axons through the TRN. The CG and SVA have a projection zone that only partially overlaps the dorsorostral regions of the visuocortical projection zone; there was no evidence to suggest separate SVA and CG zones or tiers of label within the TRN. The projection formed only a weak topographic map in the TRN, which is largely defined in the rostrocaudal axis and is similar to that of the area 7 projection; both projections have a high degree of overlap in the dorsal TRN. We postulate that CG/SVA may be involved in the initiation of orientation behaviors via stimulation of thalamic nuclei and attentional mechanisms of the TRN.

Type
Research Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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