Afferent and efferent subcortical projections of behaviorally defined sectors of prefrontal granular cortex.

Although the functional significance of the midprincipalis region is well known, the afferent and efferent connections of this zone, in comparison to the anterior and posterior portions of the cortex lining the principal sulcus, are poorly understood. In 3 animals the retrograde tracer HRP and the anterograde tracers, tritiated proline, lysine and leucine, were injected into the sulcal cortex lining the principal sulcus. The cortex forming the banks of the principal sulcus was divided into anterior, middle and posterior sectors with one animal used for each zone. As expected from previous studies, the heaviest afferents to the cortex forming the principal sulcus were from the parvocellular portions of the medical dorsal nucleus. The medial pulvinar nucleus and the nucleus limitans projected to only the anterior and posterior portions of the cortex lining the principal sulcus. Projections were seen to all 3 sectors from the anterior, midline, intralaminar and lateral thalamic nuclei. Although cells were seen in the hypothalamus following injections in all 3 sectors of the cortex lining the principal sulcus, the heaviest hypothalamic projections were noted after injections into the mid-sector of the cortex. These HRP-positive cells were in the dorsal and lateral hypothalamic area, dorsal medial nucleus and in the lateral mammillary nucleus. These findings link the midprincipalis region with the prefrontolimbic circuit, and suggest that the midprincipalis region, n. medialis dorsalis, the mammillary bodies and perhaps the cingulate gyrus constitute part of an anatomical circuit concerned with memory processes.