The organization of subcortical projections of the hamster's visual cortex

Abstract

The subcortical projections of the hamster's visual cortex were determined by use of injections of tritiated proline and heat lesions placed in different cortical loci. The brains were processed for autoradiography and silver impregnation of degenerating axons. Striate cortex was shown to project ipsilaterally to the dorsocaudal region of the caudate nucleus, a dorsolateral area within the thalamic reticular nucleus (RT), a laterodorsal region of the nucleus lateralis anterior (LA), the rostral half of nucleus lateralis posterior (LP), the whole territory of the dorsal (dLGN) and ventral (vLGN) geniculate nuclei, the anterior (PA) and posterior (PP) pretectal nuclei, the superior colliculus (SC), and the precerebellar pontine nuclei. In addition, the medial visual area (18b) was shown to project to a medial band of LA and part of the caudal half of LP, while the adjoining parietal cortex was seen to terminate in a lateral part of the caudate, a ventral band of LA, and the ventral half of rostral LP. Segregation of different cortical inputs was clear in LA, LP, caudate, and pons. The projections to dLGN, vLGN, SC, LP, and PA were retinotopically organized. Clear evidence of some topography was found within RT, PP, and the pons, although a consistent map could not be derived from the data.