Efferent connections of the subthalamic region in the rat. I. The subthalamic nucleus of Luys.

The efferent connections of the subthalamic nucleus of Luys (STN) in the rat were investigated with the aid of the anterograde autoradiographic and the retrograde horseradish peroxidase (HRP) tracer techniques. A small microelectrophoretic injection of tritiated proline and leucine centered in the STN (case RST-4) was found to label fibers directed mainly at 3 ipsilateral structures: the substantia nigra (chiefly the ventral portion of its pars reticulata), the entopeduncular nucleus and the globus pallidus (including the ventral pallidum). In addition to this major labeling pattern, much sparser labeling was seen in striatal, thalamic, hypothalamic, pretectal, tectal and reticular territories. In another series of experiments, microelectrophoretic HRP injections confined to the substantia nigra or the globus pallidus consistently resulted in retrograde labeling of neurons in the ipsilateral STN. On the other hand, HRP injections of the ventromedial portion of the midbrain tegmentum (including the red nucleus), the superior colliculus, the pretectal area or a midbrain region at the lateral border of the central gray substance resulted in retrograde labeling of cells in the zona incerta, but no labeled cells appeared in these cases in the ventrally adjacent STN. These HRP results, together with autoradiographic data obtained in control cases, suggest that the minor projections to territories other than the substantia nigra and the pallidal complex originate in the zona incerta or the cerebral cortex rather than in STN.