Cortico-striate projections in the rhesus monkey: the organization of certain cortico-caudate connections.

The organization of cortical projections to the caudate nucleus was investigated in the rhesus monkey, using the autoradiographic tracing method. Following injections of tritiated leucine and proline into selected pre- and post-Rolandic association areas in the frontal, parietal, occipital and temporal lobes, widespread projections were observed to one, or more typically, more than one of the major subdivisions of the caudate nucleus. When cortical areas having strong reciprocal cortico-cortical connections were compared, a considerable communality of their cortico-caudate projections was noted; depending on the location of the cortical areas, the region of common distribution lay within the head, the body, or the tail of the caudate nucleus. This correlation between cortico-cortical and cortico-striate projections characterized all pairs of cases studied. It suggests a previously undescribed principle of organization within the telencephalon, namely, that areas of cerebral cortex having reciprocal cortico-cortical connections, while having unique overall patterns of projection to the caudate nucleus, project, in part, to one and the same region of the nucleus. This might imply that a given region of the caudate nucleus receives input not only from a particular area of cortex, but also from all other cortical areas reciprocally interconnected with that area.