Efferent connections and nigral afferents of the nucleus accumbens septi in the rat

doi:10.1016/0306-4522(78)90041-6

Neuroscience

Volume 3, Issues 4–5, May 1978, Pages 385-401

https://doi.org/10.1016/0306-4522(78)90041-6 Get rights and content

Abstract

The results of this study by the methods of autoradiographic fiber-tracing and retrograde cell-labeling confirm earlier reports of accumbens projections to the globus pallidus and to dorsal strata of the medial half of the substantia nigra. Also in accord with previous autoradiographic evidence, sparser projections could be traced to a variety of subcortical structures implicated in the circuitry of the limbic system: bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, septum, preoptic region, hypothalamus, ventral tegmental area, nuclei paratenialis and mediodorsalis thalami, and lateral habenular nucleus. Contrary to earlier reports, striatopallidal fibers from the accumbens were found to be distributed largely to the subcommissural part of the external pallidal segment (ventral pallidum of Heimer & Wilson, 1975) and to avoid almost entirely the internal pallidal segment (entopeduncular nucleus). Mesencephalic projections from the accumbens largely coincide with those from the preoptic region and hypothalamus; like the latter they prominently involve the region of the out-lying nigral cell groups A10 and A8 and extend caudally beyond the nigral complex to the cuneiform and parabrachial regions of the tegmentum as well as to caudoventral parts of the central grey substance.

Horseradish peroxidase injected into the nucleus accumbens labels numerous neurons in the region of cell group A10 and in the supralemniscal ‘retrorubral nucleus’, but only sporadic cells in the pars compacta of the substantia nigra proper. It thus appears that the accumbens projects to a region of the nigral complex considerably larger than that from which it receives nigrostriatal fibers, and hence, that the nigro-striato-nigral circuit associated with the accumbens is not organized in a mode of simple point-for-point reciprocity.

The problem of delimiting and accumbens from the rest of the striatum is examined by comparing cases of tracer injection into various discrete loci within the ventral zone of the striatum.

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¹: Permanent address: Department of Psychiatry, New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center, White Plains, NY 10605, U.S.A.

²: Permanent address: Department of Anatomy, University of Auckland, New Zealand.

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Efferent connections and nigral afferents of the nucleus accumbens septi in the rat

Abstract

Brain Res.

Brain Res.

Brain Res.

Brain Res.

Brain Res.

Ascending monoamine neurons to the telencephalon and diencephalon

Acta physiol. scand.

Die Phylogenese des Rhinencephalons, des Corpus striatum und der Vorderhirnkommissuren

Folia neurobiol.

Convergent thalamic and mesencephalic projections to the anterior medial cortex in the rat

J. comp. Neurol.

The Brain Stem of the Cat. A Cytoarchitectonic Atlas with Stereotaxic Coordinates

Beitrag zur Anatomie des Igelgehirnes

Anat. Anz.

The organization of the corticostriate connections in the rabbit

Brain

Efferents from medial basal forebrain and hypothalamus in the rat—I. An autoradiographic study of the medial preoptic area

J. comp. Neurol.

Efferents from medial basal forebrain and hypothalamus in the rat—II. An autoradiographic study of the anterior hypothalamus

J. comp. Neurol.

The projections of the midline and intralaminar nuclei of the thalamus of the rabbit

J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiat

Evidence for the existence of monoamine-containing neurons in the central nervous system—I. Demonstration of monoamines in the cell bodies of brainstem neurons

Acta physiol. scand.

The projection field of the stria terminalis in the rat brain: an experimental study

J. comp. Neurol.

The topographic organization of the striatonigral connection in the rat. (Abstr.)

Anat. Rec.

Some ascending and descending projections of the substantia nigra and ventral tegmental area in the rat

Neuroscience Absts

The stria terminalis, longitudinal association bundle and precommissural fornix fibers in the cat

J. comp. Neurol.