An autoradiographic study of the cerebellopontine projections from the interposed and lateral cerebellar nuclei in the rat.

The projections from the cerebellar lateral and interposed nuclei onto the basilar pontine gray and nucleus reticularis tegmenti pontis (NRTP) have been studied in the rat by the use of the autoradiographic technique. Projections from both nuclei are mainly contralateral. Fibers from the lateral nucleus cover most of the NRTP, except its medial, parvocellular portion. In the pontine gray proper, fibers from the lateral nucleus are distributed to three rostrocaudally oriented columns: (i) in the medial nucleus, (ii) in the ventral nucleus, and (iii) in the dorsolateral and lateral nuclei. The projection is topographically arranged, so that caudal parts of the lateral cerebellar nucleus tend to project to more rostral regions than rostral parts of the lateral nucleus. The interposed nucleus gives rise to a sparser projection, apparently limited to the ventral NRTP and immediate peripeduncular zones. The functional implications of these results are discussed, with particular emphasis on the convergence of corticopontine afferents to the pontine regions involved, and on the reciprocal pontocerebellar pathways from these same regions.