DIVERGENT CORTICOSTRIATAL PROJECTIONS FROM A SINGLE CORTICAL COLUMN IN THE SOMATOSENSORY CORTEX OF RATS

We injected biotinylated dextran amine (BDA) into single vibrissal 'ba rrels' of primary somatosensory (SI) cortex and reconstructed the topo graphy of labelled varicosities in the dorsolateral caudate-putamen. P lots of labelled varicosities revealed densely-packed clusters of cort icostriatal arborizations along the dorsolateral edge of the caudate-p utamen and sparsely-packed arborizations more medially. The medial and lateral clusters of labelled terminals were separated by regions of u nlabelled neuropil and lead us to conclude that a single cortical colu mn sends divergent projections to multiple regions of the caudate-puta men. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.