Summary
In this study the intrastriatal distribution of afferents arising from the parataenial nucleus of the thalamus was investigated. Tritiated leucine and proline injected into the parataenial nucleus was found to densely label the entire anterior-posterior extent of the medial nucleus accumbens. The projection was for the most part limited to this striatal subregion, although some moderate labelling was found along the medial wall of the anterior caudateputamen. The terminal labelling within accumbens was characterized by a distinct patchiness. Other efferent connections of the parataenial nucleus observed in this study include the thalamic reticular nucleus, the basolateral and central nuclei of the amygdala, the septum, the medial frontal cortex, the entorhinal cortex and subiculum.
This projection is distributed to the “limbic afferented” sector of striatum, and there is a nearly complete overlap between the parataenial afferents and those coming from hippocampus. The present findings suggest that the parataenial nucleus is an important thalamic link between limbic and striatal processing.
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Abbreviations
- A:
-
nucleus accumbens
- AC:
-
anterior commissure
- abl:
-
basolateral nucleus of amygdala
- abm:
-
basomedial nucleus of amygdala
- ac:
-
central nucleus of amygdala
- am:
-
medial nucleus of amygdala
- al:
-
lateral nucleus of amygdala
- bst:
-
bed nucleus of Stria terminalis
- CAI:
-
internal capsule
- CC:
-
crus cerebri
- CP:
-
caudate-putamen
- F:
-
fornix
- FCX:
-
frontal cortex
- FH:
-
fimbria hippocampi
- fr:
-
fasciculus retroflexus
- GP:
-
globus pallidus
- IL:
-
infralimbic cortex
- lh:
-
lateral habenula
- MD:
-
mediodorsal nucleus
- MFH:
-
medial forebrain bundle
- MO:
-
medial orbital cortex
- nb:
-
nucleus basalis
- ot:
-
olfactory tubercle
- Pt:
-
parataenial nucleus
- PV:
-
paraventricular nucleus
- sl:
-
lateral septum
- SM:
-
Stria medullaris
- ST:
-
Stria terminalis
- tam:
-
anterior medial nucleus
- tav:
-
anterior ventral nucleus
- tol:
-
nucleus of lateral olfactory tract
- tr:
-
reticular nucleus
- tv:
-
ventral nucleus
- VL:
-
lateral ventricle
- VIII :
-
third ventricle
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Presented in part at the Sixth European Neuroscience Congress, Malaga, Spain, 1982
New address: Psychobiologie des Comportements Adaptatifs, INSERM U. 259, Rue Camille Saint Saens, Domaine de Carreire, F-33077 Bordeaux Cedex, France
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Kelley, A.E., Stinus, L. The distribution of the projection from the parataenial nucleus of the thalamus to the nucleus accumbens in the rat: An autoradiographic study. Exp Brain Res 54, 499–512 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00235475
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00235475