Prefrontal projections to the medial nuclei of the dorsal thalamus in the rabbit.
Retrograde transport of horseradish peroxidase (HRP) from the mediodorsal (MD), ventromedial (VM), ventroposterior (VP) and intralaminar (IL) nuclei of the dorsal thalamus revealed a topographical pattern of efferents from the frontal cortex. MD injections labeled the midline and insular regions of the prefrontal cortex (Pfc), including the anterior limbic, and most ventral part of the precentral agranular Pfc, as well as the agranular insular cortex. VM injections labeled only the most dorsomedial part of the granular insular cortex, whereas IL and VP injections labeled the dorsal precentral agranular Pfc and a strip of cortex that extended laterally across the superior aspect of the forceps minor. The IL injections also labeled cells that extended ventrally into the granular and agranular insular areas.