Summary
Paired injections of fluorescent tracers (True Blue, Diamidino-Yellow) were made into the oculomotor complex (OMC) and medial pontine reticular formation (mPRF), and superior colliculus (SC) and mPRF, in adult rats to retrogradely label the cortical cells of origin of projections to these oculomotor-related brainstem structures. While large numbers of single-labeled cells in the medial frontal cortex projected only to the mPRF, the presence of many double-labeled cells in the dorsomedial shoulder cortex (medial precentral/anterior cingulate areas), the rat frontal eye field (FEF), indicated that this cortical region contains lamina V pyramid neurons whose axons collateralize to project to the region of the OMC, SC, and mPRF. The similarities of rat and monkey FEF connections, and their relevance to the control of eye movement, are discussed.
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Abbreviations
- AC:
-
anterior commissure
- ACd:
-
anterior cingulate area, dorsal
- ACv:
-
anterior cingulate area, ventral
- AId:
-
anterior insular area, dorsal
- AIv:
-
anterior insular area, ventral
- BC:
-
brachium conjunctivum (superior cerebellar peduncle)
- CP:
-
caudoputamen
- DY:
-
Diamidino Yellow
- IL:
-
infralimbic area
- MAB:
-
medial accessory nucleus of Bechterew
- MLF:
-
medial longitudinal fasciculus
- mPRF:
-
medial pontine reticular formation
- MO:
-
medial orbital area
- OMC:
-
oculomotor complex
- PAG:
-
periaqueductal gray
- PrCl:
-
lateral precentral cortex
- PrCm:
-
medial precentral cortex
- PL:
-
prelimbic area
- RN:
-
red nucleus
- riMLF:
-
rostral interstitial nucleus of the MLF
- rs:
-
rhinal sulcus
- SC:
-
superior colliculus
- TB:
-
True Blue
- VLO:
-
ventrolateral orbital area
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Leichnetz, G.R., Gonzalo-Ruiz, A. Collateralization of frontal eye field (medial precentral/anterior cingulate) neurons projecting to the paraoculomotor region, superior colliculus, and medial pontine reticular formation in the rat: a fluorescent double-labeling study. Exp Brain Res 68, 355–364 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00248801
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00248801