Claustral Input to the Macaque Medial Posterior Parietal Cortex (Superior Parietal Lobule and Adjacent Areas)

Abstract

The projections from the claustrum to cortical areas within and adjacent to the superior parietal lobule were studied in 10 macaque monkeys, using retrograde tracers, computerized reconstructions, and quantitative methods. In contrast with the classical view that posterior parietal areas receive afferents primarily from the dorsal and posterior regions of the claustrum, we found that these areas receive more extensive projections, including substantial afferents from the anterior and ventral regions of the claustrum. Moreover, our findings uncover a previously unsuspected variability in the precise regions of the claustrum that originate the projections, according to the target areas. For example, areas dominated by somatosensory inputs for control of body movements tend to receive most afferents from the dorsal-posterior claustrum, whereas those which also receive significant visual inputs tend to receive more afferents from the ventral claustrum. In addition, different areas within these broadly defined groups differ in terms of quantitative emphasis in the origin of projections. Overall, these results argue against a simple model whereby adjacency in the cortex determines adjacency in the sectors of claustral origin of projections and indicate that subnetworks defined by commonality of function may be an important factor in defining claustrocortical topography.

Involvement of the claustrum in the cortico-basal ganglia circuitry: connectional study in the non-human primate

“…Many studies have described in macaques the claustral projections to frontal (Pearson et al 1982 ; Tanné-Gariépy et al 2002 ; Reser et al 2014 ), parietal (Mesulam et al 1977 ; Pearson et al 1982 ; Minciacchi et al 1991 ; Baizer et al 1993 ; Leichnetz 2001 ; Gamberini et al 2017 ; 2021 ) temporal (Pearson et al 1982 ; Insausti et al 1987 ; Baizer et al 1993 , 1997 ; Gattass et al 2014 ), occipital (Pearson et al 1982 ; Kennedy and Bullier 1985 ), and cingulate (Vogt et al 1979 ) areas. Some of them have provided evidence for overlap of claustral zones projecting to different parietal (Gamberini et al 2017 , 2021 ) and prefrontal (Reser et al 2014 ) areas, or to premotor and prefrontal areas (Tanné-Gariépy et al 2002 ), ventral premotor and inferior parietal areas (Bruni et al 2018 ), and dorsal premotor and rostral somatosensory parietal areas (Pearson et al 1982 ). The overlap of projections from prefrontal and parietal interconnected regions was observed by Selemon and Goldman-Rakic ( 1988 ).…”

“…To describe the location of the claustral labeling, the medial views of the 3D claustral reconstructions were subdivided into quadrants, similarly to Gamberini et al ( 2017 , 2021 ), as shown in Fig. 3 .…”