E. Arnauld et al., INVOLVEMENT OF THE CAUDAL STRIATUM IN AUDITORY PROCESSING - C-FOS RESPONSE TO CORTICAL APPLICATION OF PICROTOXIN AND TO AUDITORY-STIMULATION, Molecular brain research, 41(1-2), 1996, pp. 27-35
The topographical organization of corticostriatal connections have bee
n postulated to follow a longitudinal pattern, each cortical area proj
ecting on a longitudinal strip stretching along the whole rostro-cauda
l axis of the striatum. However, compared to the rostral striatal regi
on, the caudal striatum exhibits distinct features in terms of connect
ivity and neuronal phenotype. The induction of c-fos expression in the
striatum by cortical activation or sensory stimulation may throw more
light on these functional corticostriatal relationships. In the prese
nt study, we examined the effects of cortical activation by local appl
ication of picrotoxin on the Fos-immunoreactivity (Fos-IR) in the stri
atum of the mouse, with special reference to the caudal part of the st
riatum. Activation of the auditory cortex induced a dense ipsilateral
Fos-IR restricted to the caudal striatum, i.e., in the caudo-medial st
riatum and in the caudal part of fundus striati, and a very sparse lab
elling in the medial region of the rostral striatum. Conversely, activ
ation of both sensori-motor and visual cortices only resulted in Fos-I
R in the main rostral part of the striatum, without response in the ca
udal extremity of the striatum. On the other hand, visual or auditory
stimulation in awake animals failed to induce c-fos expression in the
striatum. However, using quantitative in-situ hybridization for c-fos
mRNA, we found that auditory, but not visual stimulation significantly
potentiated the c-fos response to the D1 agonist SKF 38393 (2 mg/kg,
i.p.) in the caudal part of the striatum. These functional observation
s suggest that, despite a more widespread cortico-striatal connection
pattern deduced from tracing experiments, the strongest functional pro
jections from the auditory system mainly converge onto a restricted pa
rt of the caudal striatum, according to a connection pattern that is r
eminiscent of the transverse segmentation proposed in early lesioning
studies of corticostriatal projections.