Caudal cuneate nucleus projection to the direct thalamic relay to the motor cortex: an electrophysiological study.

We previously reported that injection of horseradish peroxidase (HRP) into a physiologically identified region of the thalamus between the ventrolateral nucleus and ventroposterolateral nucleus, VL-VPL, in cat results in labeled cell bodies in the caudal cuneate nucleus (CCN) of the dorsal column nuclei (DCN). We recognized, however, that the spread of HRP to localized regions of less than 1.0 mm distance from the injection site and subsequent uptake by neighboring fibers might have accounted for the resulting label in CCN. In the present study, therefore, we reexamined the DCN input to VL-VPL using a more sensitive physiological method. First, we used the microstimulation technique and corroborated the previous result. In 5 additional preparations, a modified collision procedure was used to ascertain that the same VL-VPL neuron which projects to the motor cortex also receives input from CCN. We report, for the first time, evidence of a lemniscal input to neurons in VL-VPL which are physiologically identified as projecting to the motor cortex.