Neurotensin-containing projections from the retrosplenial cortex to the anterior ventral thalamic nucleus in the rat.

The neurotensin-containing projections from the retrosplenial cortex to the anterior ventral thalamus were demonstrated by electrolytic lesion studies and fluorescent retrograde tracing combined with immunocytochemistry. Three-to-five-day-old rats were used, because the immunoreactivity of neurotensin fibers in anterior ventral thalamus was the highest at this age. When neurotensin-containing neurons located in layer VI of the retrosplenial cortex were unilaterally destroyed by applying an electrolytic current to the retrosplenial area, the neurotensin fibers in the ipsilateral anterior ventral thalamus decreased dramatically. Unilateral injection of a fluorescent retrograde tracer, Fast Blue, into the anterior ventral thalamus, labeled neurons in the ipsilateral retrosplenial cortex, and many of these cells also had neurotensin-like immunoreactivity. These results suggested that a major origin of the neurotensin fibers in the anterior ventral thalamus was in the ipsilateral retrosplenial granular cortex.