Projections from Caudal Ventrolateral Prefrontal Areas to Brainstem Preoculomotor Structures and to Basal Ganglia and Cerebellar Oculomotor Loops in the Macaque

摘要: The caudal part of the macaque ventrolateral prefrontal (VLPF) cortex hosts several distinct areas or fields—45B, 45A, 8r, 46vc, and 12r—connected to frontal eye field (area 8/ FEF). To assess whether these areas/fields also display subcortical projections possibly mediating a role in controlling oculomotor behavior, we examined their descending projections, based on anterograde tracer injections each area/field, compared them with those area 8/FEF. All studied displayed brainstem preoculomotor structures, precerebellar centers, striatal sectors that are targets originating from Specifically, involved: 1) intermediate superficial layers superior colliculus; 2) mesencephalic pontine reticular formation; 3) dorsomedial lateral nuclei reticularis tegmenti pontis; 4) body caudate nucleus. Furthermore, 45B projected regions around trochlear nucleus raphe interpositus. present data provide evidence for VLPF behavior not only through connections 8/FEF, but parallel direct access structures cerebellar basal ganglia loops.