White Michael G, Cody Patrick A, Bubser Michael, Wang Hui-Dong, Deutch Ariel Y, Mathur Brian N
Department of Pharmacology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, 21201.
Department of Bioengineering, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 15213.
J Comp Neurol. 2017 Apr 15;525(6):1347-1362. doi: 10.1002/cne.23970. Epub 2016 Feb 8.
The claustrum is a telencephalic gray matter structure with various proposed functions, including sensory integration and attentional allocation. Underlying these concepts is the reciprocal connectivity of the claustrum with most, if not all, areas of the cortex. What remains to be elucidated to inform functional hypotheses further is whether a pattern exists in the strength of connectivity between a given cortical area and the claustrum. To this end, we performed a series of retrograde neuronal tract tracer injections into rat cortical areas along the cortical processing hierarchy, from primary sensory and motor to frontal cortices. We observed that the number of claustrocortical projections increased as a function of processing hierarchy; claustrum neurons projecting to primary sensory cortices were scant and restricted in distribution across the claustrum, whereas neurons projecting to the cingulate cortex were densely packed and more evenly distributed throughout the claustrum. This connectivity pattern suggests that the claustrum may preferentially subserve executive functions orchestrated by the cingulate cortex. J. Comp. Neurol. 525:1347-1362, 2017. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
屏状核是一种端脑灰质结构，具有多种假定功能，包括感觉整合和注意力分配。这些概念的基础是屏状核与大部分（即便不是所有）皮质区域之间的相互连接。为了进一步完善功能假说，有待阐明的是，在给定皮质区域与屏状核之间的连接强度上是否存在某种模式。为此，我们沿着皮质处理层级，从初级感觉和运动皮质到额叶皮质，向大鼠皮质区域进行了一系列逆行神经元示踪剂注射。我们观察到，屏状核 - 皮质投射的数量随着处理层级的增加而增多；投射到初级感觉皮质的屏状核神经元数量稀少，且在屏状核中的分布有限，而投射到扣带回皮质的神经元则密集分布，且在整个屏状核中分布更为均匀。这种连接模式表明，屏状核可能优先服务于由扣带回皮质精心安排的执行功能。《比较神经学杂志》525:1347 - 1362, 2017。© 2016威利期刊公司。
