The sublaminar organization of corticogeniculate neurons in layer 6 of macaque striate cortex.

We examined the laminar distribution of corticogeniculate neurons in the macaque striate cortex labeled by axonal transport following injections of retrograde tracers into the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN). Large injections of retrograde tracers involving all layers of the LGN resulted in a distinctive bilaminar distribution of labeled cells in cortical layer 6. One tier of labeled neurons was located along the layer 5-6 border and a second was located near the bottom of the layer, leaving the middle of layer 6 largely free of labeled neurons. Following injections of tracers that were restricted to the magnocellular layers of the LGN, almost all of the labeled neurons were located in the lower tier. In contrast, following injections of retrograde tracers confined to the parvocellular layers of the LGN, labeled cells were found in both tiers, with the greatest number in the upper tier. Thus, layer 6 of macaque striate cortex consists of three distinct sublayers only two of which are the source of descending projections to the LGN: an upper tier that projects exclusively to the parvocellular layers and a lower tier that projects to both magnocellular and parvocellular layers.