Cortical connections of the claustrum and subjacent cell groups in the hedgehog tenrec.
Cyto- and chemoarchitectural findings have recently suggested that in the hedgehog tenrec, the claustrum is not located below but between the layers of the rhinal/insular cortex (Künzle and Radtke-Schuller 2000b). The present connectional study confirms this unusual position. Tracer injections were made into various isocortical and allocortical regions. They showed that the tenrec's dorsal claustrum was reciprocally and bilaterally connected with the neocortex. The ventral claustrum was connected with mainly the ipsilateral paleocortex, additionally with the ventromedial frontal cortex and possibly the subiculum. A sparsely labeled cell group separated the claustrum from the labeled cells located in the depth of the RCx and the adjacent paleo- and neocortices. On the basis of the linear arrangement of these latter cells immediately adjacent to the subcortical white matter, and the restriction of their labeling to the ipsilateral side, one might interpret preliminarily these cells as layer 6B cells or persisting subplate neurons. Their cortical projections showed a similar topographic organization as the claustro-cortical projections. The unusual features described in tenrec were discussed with respect to similar organizations in other mammals with poorly differentiated brains and compared with embryonic brains of mammals with more differentiated brains.
Künzle
H
H
Institute of Anatomy, University of Munich, Pettenkoferstrasse 11, 80336 Munich, Germany. heinz@kuenzle.de
Radtke-Schuller
S
S
D000818:Animals; D001370:Axonal Transport; D001479:Basal Ganglia / Q000166:cytology*; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000166:cytology*; D006364:Hedgehogs / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000166:cytology; D006735:Horseradish Peroxidase; D019579:Neocortex / Q000166:cytology; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000166:cytology*; D014909:Wheat Germ Agglutinins
D014909:Wheat Germ Agglutinins; D006735:Horseradish Peroxidase