AFFERENT PROJECTIONS FROM THE DIENCEPHALON AND SUBCORTICAL TELENCEPHALON TO THE PREFRONTAL CORTEX IN THE RAT——A WGA-HRP STUDY / 解剖学报

ABSTRACT

WGA-HRP was injected into the dorsal part of anterior cingulate area,prelim- bic area,and dorsal agranular insular area of the prefrontal cortex in 25 rats to observe the afferent connections from the diencephalon and subcortical telencephalon. The afferent projections from the diencephalon mainly originate from the dorsome- dial nucleus of the thalamus,and some topographic localization may exist.Further- more,the afferent projections to the prefrontal cortex arise from the thalamic intralaminar nuclei(centrolateral nucleus,paracentral nucleus,centromedial nucleus and parafascicular nucleus),the ventral thalamic nuclei(ventrolateral nucleus,ven- tromedial nucleus,ventroanterior nucleus and ventroposterior nucleus),the midline nuclei(rhomboid nucleus,reuniens nucleus,paratenial nucleus,and paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus),the anteromedial nucleus,the lateral habenular nucleus, the posterior nucleus of the thalamus,and the lateral nucleus of the thalamus.The numbers projecting to the prefrontal cortex were different in different thalamic nuclei.The afferent projections from the hypothalamus mainly originate from the lateral hypothalamic area,lateral preoptic area,caudal magnocellular nucleus,and supramamillary nucleus.A few of afferent projections from the posterior hypothala- mic area,dorsomedial and ventromedial nucleus of the hypothalamus and zona inserta were also observed.The afferent projections from the subcortical telence- phalon mainly originate from the globus pallidus,the diagonal band nucleus,the septal nuclei(medial septal nucleus,lateral septal nucleus,septofimbrial nucleus and nucleus triangularis septi),the amygdaloid nuclei(lateral amygdaloid nucleus,lateral and medial part of basal amygdaloid nucleus,medial amygdaloid nucleus and cortical amygdaloid nucleus)and the claustrum.