The Research of Reciprocal Connections to the Pathway of Gustatory and Rhinencephalons

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

In the present study, we aimed to reveal the interactions between the neural pathway. of gustatory sensation and brain areas related to olfaction. In our previous study, projections from the thalamic gustatory nucleus, i.e. the parvicellular part of the posteromedial ventral thalamic nucleus (VPMpc) to the forebrain regions were observed in the insular cortex, amygdaloid complex, and amygdalostriatal transition area (ASt). Thus we attempted to show how each neuron in the VPMpc project to these areas. We established the single cell tracing method with Sindbis virus vectors the coded membrane-targeted GFP, some neurons were labeled in a Golgi-like manner by the immunoperoxidase method with an anti-GFP antibody. After the reconstruction of projection axons, some neurons in VPMpc were observed to project their axons to only one area respectively. This result suggested that each neuron in the VPMpc had different character.Then we the attended to the amygdalostriatal transition area (ASt) that the fibers from the VPMpc mainly projected. The neurons of the ASt are consisted of the medium-sized spiny projection neurons are the neostriatal principal neurons. Although the neostriatum is considered to be an important region involved in the control of the voluntary movements, the neurons in the ASt are like to striatal projection neurons. So we now started the analysis of the relation between the ASt and the neostriatum in the gustatory sensation.