Cavada C, Compañy T, Hernández-González A, Reinoso-Suárez F
Departamento de Morfología, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain.
J Chem Neuroanat. 1995 May;8(4):245-57. doi: 10.1016/0891-0618(95)00050-h.
The patterns of histochemical staining for acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity in the macaque thalamus were analyzed and compared with the distribution of cells and terminals labeled from injections of axonal tracers in the dorsolateral and orbital prefrontal cortex, in area 7a of the posterior parietal cortex and in the polysensory cortex of the superior temporal sulcus. AChE histochemistry is very useful in delineating the thalamic nuclei connected with the association cortex and in uncovering thalamic subdivisions that are barely evident on cytoarchitectonic grounds. Moreover, AChE activity reveals previously unrecognized heterogeneities within several thalamic nuclei, like the ventral anterior (VA), where a new ventromedial subdivision (VAvm) is described, the medial pulvinar (PulM) or the mediodorsal nucleus (MD). In this nucleus three distinct chemical domains are present: the medial, ventral and lateral sectors characterized by low, moderate and high AChE activities, respectively. The staining pattern of the lateral sector is markedly heterogeneous with patches of intense AChE activity surrounded by a moderately stained matrix. The MD medial sector is connected with the orbitofrontal cortex, whereas the AChE-rich patches in the lateral sector are selectively connected with the dorsolateral prefrontal, parietal and temporal association cortices. In the PulM, a dorsomedial AChE-rich patch is selectively connected with the orbitofrontal cortex, whereas the surrounding territory, which shows moderate AChE activity, is preferentially connected with the parietal and temporal cortices. Chemically specific domains in the anterior, ventral anterior, midline, and intralaminar thalamic nuclei are also connected with the examined association cortices. These findings indicate that the topographic patterns of the thalamo-cortical connections of primate association areas conform to the chemical architecture of the thalamus. This implies that because each cortical area is connected to a particular set of thalamic regions, the influence of the thalamus on cortical function is exclusive for each area, highly diverse among the various association areas, and subject to a wide range of modulation at the thalamic level.
分析了猕猴丘脑乙酰胆碱酯酶（AChE）活性的组织化学染色模式，并将其与从轴突示踪剂注射标记的细胞和终末在背外侧和眶额前皮质、顶叶后皮质7a区以及颞上沟多感觉皮质中的分布进行了比较。AChE组织化学在描绘与联合皮质相连的丘脑核以及揭示基于细胞构筑几乎不明显的丘脑亚区方面非常有用。此外，AChE活性揭示了几个丘脑核内以前未被认识到的异质性，如腹前核（VA），其中描述了一个新的腹内侧亚区（VAvm）、内侧丘脑枕（PulM）或背内侧核（MD）。在这个核中有三个不同的化学区域：内侧、腹侧和外侧扇区，分别以低、中、高AChE活性为特征。外侧扇区的染色模式明显异质，有密集AChE活性的斑块被中等染色的基质包围。MD内侧扇区与眶额皮质相连，而外侧扇区富含AChE的斑块则选择性地与背外侧前额叶、顶叶和颞叶联合皮质相连。在PulM中，一个富含AChE的背内侧斑块选择性地与眶额皮质相连，而周围显示中等AChE活性的区域则优先与顶叶和颞叶皮质相连。丘脑前核、腹前核、中线核和板内核中的化学特异性区域也与所检查的联合皮质相连。这些发现表明，灵长类联合区丘脑-皮质连接的拓扑模式符合丘脑的化学结构。这意味着，由于每个皮质区域都与一组特定的丘脑区域相连，丘脑对皮质功能的影响对每个区域都是排他性的，在不同的联合区域之间高度不同，并且在丘脑水平上受到广泛的调节。
