Qadir Houman, Krimmel Samuel R, Mu Chaoqi, Poulopoulos Alexandros, Seminowicz David A, Mathur Brian N
Department of Pharmacology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States.
Department of Neural and Pain Sciences, School of Dentistry, Center to Advance Chronic Pain Research, University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD, United States.
Front Neuroanat. 2018 Nov 26;12:100. doi: 10.3389/fnana.2018.00100. eCollection 2018.
The claustrum is a narrow subcortical brain structure that resides between the striatum and insular cortex. The function of the claustrum is not fully described, and while our previous work supports a role for the claustrum in top-down cognitive control of action, other evidence suggests the claustrum may be involved in detecting salient changes in the external environment. The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and the anterior insular (aINS) are the two major participants in the salience network of human brain regions that activate in response to salient stimuli. While bidirectional connections between the ACC and the claustrum exist from mouse to non-human primate, the aINS connectivity with claustrum remains unclear, particularly in mouse. Here, we explored structural connections of the aINS with the claustrum and ACC through adeno-associated virus neuronal tract tracer injections into the ACC and aINS of the mouse. We detected sparse projections from the claustrum to the aINS and diffuse projections from the aINS to the borders of the claustrum were observed in some cases. In contrast, the insular cortex and endopiriform nucleus surrounding the claustrum had rich interconnectivity with aINS. Additionally, we observed a modest interconnectivity between ACC and the aINS. These data support the idea that claustrum neuron responses to salient stimuli may be driven by the ACC rather than the aINS.
屏状核是一种狭窄的皮质下脑结构，位于纹状体和岛叶皮质之间。屏状核的功能尚未完全阐明，尽管我们之前的研究支持屏状核在对动作的自上而下认知控制中发挥作用，但其他证据表明屏状核可能参与检测外部环境中的显著变化。前扣带回皮质（ACC）和前岛叶（aINS）是人类大脑区域显著网络中的两个主要参与者，它们会对显著刺激做出反应而激活。虽然从小鼠到非人类灵长类动物，ACC和屏状核之间存在双向连接，但aINS与屏状核的连接情况仍不清楚，尤其是在小鼠中。在这里，我们通过向小鼠的ACC和aINS注射腺相关病毒神经元示踪剂，探索了aINS与屏状核和ACC的结构连接。我们检测到从屏状核到aINS的稀疏投射，并且在某些情况下观察到从aINS到屏状核边界的弥散投射。相比之下，围绕屏状核的岛叶皮质和内梨状核与aINS有丰富的相互连接。此外，我们还观察到ACC和aINS之间存在适度的相互连接。这些数据支持这样一种观点，即屏状核神经元对显著刺激的反应可能是由ACC而非aINS驱动的。
