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The Journal of Neuroscience, June 1, 1998, 18(11):4216-4232

Extensive Divergence and Convergence in the Thalamocortical Projection to Monkey Somatosensory Cortex

Estrella Rausell¹, Lincoln Bickford¹, Paul R. Manger², Timothy M. Woods², and Edward G. Jones²

¹ Department of Morphology, School of Medicine, Autonoma University, Madrid 28029, Spain, and ² Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, University of California, Irvine, California 92697

This study examined the extent of thalamocortical divergence as a potential determinant of activity-dependent representational plasticity in area 3b of adult monkey somatosensory cortex. Single or paired injections of anterogradely transported tracers, of varying anteroposterior extent, were made horizontally from behind in defined parts of the body representation in the ventral posterior lateral (VPL) and/or ventral posterior medial (VPM) thalamic nuclei, and the distribution and density of labeled thalamocortical terminations were mapped in cortex. Injections of increasing size in any dimension of VPL or VPM resulted in increasing accumulation of labeled terminals within the region of projection, implying extensive convergence of individual axons. Anteroposteriorly elongated injections labeled mediolaterally extended but anteroposteriorly restricted zones in cortex. Dorsoventral placement of an injection in VPL or VPM determined anteroposterior location of labeling in cortex.

Dual injections separated mediolaterally or dorsoventrally by ~1 mm, and in different parts of the thalamic body or head-face representation gave rise to labeled thalamocortical terminations that overlapped extensively. For injection sites at different anteroposterior levels in VPL or VPM, the area of cortical convergence was related to their extent of anteroposterior coincidence. Labeled terminations arising from injections in immediately adjacent parts of VPL and VPM did not overlap in cortex.

The extent of thalamocortical divergence and convergence revealed by these experiments is greater than that predictable from labeling of single axons and is sufficiently great to account for representational plasticity that exceeds the 1.5 mm cortical "distance limit."

Key words: ventral posterior nucleus; area 3b; cortical plasticity; somatotopic representation; Phaseolus vulgaris, leukoagglutinin; fluorescent dextrans

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Copyright © 1998 Society for Neuroscience  0270-6474/98/18114216-17$05.00/0

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