Organization of cerebral cortical afferent systems in the rat. II. Magnocellular basal nucleus

作者：Clifford B. Saper · 发表于：The Journal of Comparative Neurology · 年份：1984 · DOI：10.1002/cne.902220302 · 被引用次数：709 · 研究领域：Neuroscience and Neuropharmacology Research、Memory and Neural Mechanisms、Alzheimer's disease research and treatments

Abstract The organization of the magnocellular basal nucleus (MBN) projection to cerebral cortex in the rat has been studied by using cytoarchitectonic, immunohistochemical, and retrograde and anterograde transport methods. The distribution of retrogradely labeled basal forebrain neurons after cortical injections of wheat germ agglutinin‐horseradish peroxidase conjugate was essentially identical to that of neurons staining immunohistochemically for choline acetyltransferase. These large (20–30 μm perikaryon diameter) multipolar neurons were found scattered through a number of basal forebrain cell groups: medial septal nucleus, nucleus of the diagonal band of Broca, magnocellular preoptic nucleus, substantia innominata, and globus pallidus. This peculiar distribution mimics the locations of pathways by which descending cortical fibers enter the diencephalon. Each cortical area was innervated by a characteristic subset of MBN neurons, always located in close association with descending cortical fibers. In many instances anterogradely labeled descending cortical fibers appeared to ramify into diffuse terminal fields among MBN neurons which were retrogradely labeled by the same cortical injection. Double label experiments using retrograde transport of fluorescent dyes confirmed that MBN neurons innervate restricted cortical fields. Anterograde autoradiographic transport studies after injections of 3 H‐amino acids into MBN revealed that MBN axons reach cerebral cortex primarily vi...