The second, intralaminar thalamo-cortical projection system.

In the marmoset (Callithrix jacchus), HRP and 3H-apo-HRP were injected into various cortical regions and the positions of labelled neurons in the non-specific, intralaminar thalamic nuclei (N. centralis and centre m edian ) were investigated. Although neuron populations projecting to the different cortical regions overlap widely, a coarse topology exists inasmuch as intralaminar neurons projecting to the posterior cortex were located more rostrally and those projecting to the anterior cortex were located more caudally in the intralaminar complex. With injections into nearby cortical regions of the parieto-temporal association cortex with HRP and 3H-apo-HRP, respectively, no double labelled cells were found in the intralaminar nuclei, although the fields of labelled cells completely overlapped. Also in the specific projection nuclei no double labelled cells were encountered. About 10-20% of the thalamo-cortical projection cells are located in the intralaminar nuclei. Some functional aspects of this second thalamo-cortical projection system are discussed.