Frontal eye field as defined by intracortical microstimulation in squirrel monkeys, owl monkeys, and macaque monkeys: I. Subcortical connections

Abstract

Intracortical microstimulation was used to define the borders of the frontal eye fields in squirrel, owl, and macaque monkeys. The borders were marked with electrolytic lesions, and horseradish peroxidase conjugated to wheat germ agglutinin was injected within the field. Following tetramethyl benzidine histochemistry, afferent and efferent connections of the frontal eye field with subcortical structures were studied. Most connections were ipsilateral and were similar in all primates studied. These include reciprocal connections with the following nuclei: medial dorsal (lateral parts), ventral anterior (especially with pars magnocellularis), central lateral, paracentral, ventral lateral, parafascicular, medial pulvinar, limitans, and suprageniculate. The frontal eye field also projects to the ipsilateral pretectal nuclei, subthalamic nucleus, nucleus of the posterior commissure, superior colliculus (especially layer four), zona incerta, rostral interstitial nucleus of the medial longitudinal fasciculus, nucleus Darkschewitsch, dorsomedial parvocellular red nucleus, interstitial nucleus of Cajal, basilar pontine nuclei, and bilaterally to the paramedian pontine reticular formation and the nucleus reticularis tegmenti pontis. Many of these structures also receive input from deeper layers of the superior colliculus and are known to participate in visuomotor function. These results reveal connections that account for the parallel influence of the superior colliculus and the frontal eye field on visuomotor function; suggest that there has been little evolutionary change in subcortical connections, and therefore function, of the frontal eye fields since the time that these lines of primates diverged; and support the conclusion that the frontal eye fields are homologous in New and Old World monkeys.

The thalamic connections of motor, premotor, and prefrontal areas of cortex in a prosimian primate (Otolemur garnetti)

“…These thalamic projection zones correspond to those reported for New and Old World monkeys after injections in the FEF (Huerta et al, 1986). In one galago, different tracers were injected into granular frontal cortex just anterior to PMD and PMV.…”

Active Vision in Marmosets: A Model System for Visual Neuroscience

“…They have been used in the study of auditory and vocal processing in the awake and behaving conditions for over a decade (Lu et al, 2001a,b;Barbour and Wang, 2003;Bendor and Wang, 2005;Wang et al, 2005;Eliades and Wang, 2008a,b) and necessary techniques for their handling and behavioral conditioning for auditory tasks have been established (Osmanski and Wang, 2011;Remington et al, 2012). The anatomy and physiology of the marmoset visual systems have been examined in detail for anesthetized animals (Kaas et al, 1978;Huerta et al, 1986;Krubitzer and Kaas, 1990;Tweedale, 2000, 2005;Solomon et al, 2002;Collins et al, 2005;Roe et al, 2005;Szmajda et al, 2005;Rosa et al, 2009;Yu et al, 2010;Martin et al, 2011;Solomon et al, 2011;Valverde Salzmann et al, 2012;Chaplin et al, 2013), including a stereotaxic atlas of the marmoset brain (Paxinos et al, 2012), and recently noninvasive techniques for anatomical and functional imaging have been established (Belcher et al, 2013;Liu et al, 2013;Papoti et al, 2013), thus providing a sound basis for continued study with invasive techniques in the awake, behaving animal. One key advantage of the marmoset compared with the macaque is its lissencephalic (flat) cortex.…”

Ultra-Rapid Sensory Responses in the Human Frontal Eye Field Region

“…There are a number of possible anatomical pathways that could be involved, both cortical (Huerta et al, 1987) and subcortical (Huerta et al, 1986;Tian and Lynch, 1997). Given that the FEF takes part in the pro- .…”