Study of the afferents of the rat globus pallidus (GP) with Fluoro-gold, a retrograde tracer, revealed retrogradely labeled neurons in the ipsilateral parafascicular nucleus of the thalamus (PF), a previously undescribed afferent of the rat GP. We used the anterograde tracer, Phaseolus vulgaris-leucoagglutinin (PHA-L), to confirm and extend our findings. After injections of PHA-L in the PF, lab...

The parafascicular (PF) nucleus, a posterior component of the intralaminar nuclei of the thalamus, is considered to be an essential structure in the feedback systems of basal ganglia-thalamo-cortical circuits critically involved in cognitive processes. The specific role played by multimodal information encoded in PF neurons in learning and memory processes is still unclear. We conducted two exp...

Quantitative 2-[14C]deoxyglucose autoradiography was used to map the pattern of alterations in local cerebral glucose utilization associated with unilateral lesions of the substantia nigra pars compacta produced by the infusion of 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) into one internal carotid artery of rhesus monkeys. These monkeys become hemiparkinsonian, displaying rigidity, br...

The present study analyses the anatomical arrangement of the projections linking the Wistar rat parafascicular thalamic nucleus (PF) and basal ganglia structures, such as the striatum and the subthalamic nucleus (STN), by using neuroanatomical tract-tracing techniques. Both the thalamostriatal and the striato-entopeduncular projections were topographically organized, and several areas of overla...

As part of an experimental study of the ventral striatum, the horseradish peroxidase (HRP) method was used to examine the afferent and efferent neuronal connections of the nucleus accumbens. Following iontophoretic applications or hydraulic injections of HRP in nucleus accumbens, cells labeled by retrograde transport of HRP were observed in the ipsilateral telencephalon in the posterior agranul...

Frizzled5 (Fz5), a putative Wnt receptor, is expressed in the retina, hypothalamus, and the parafascicular nucleus (PFN) of the thalamus. By constructing Fz5 alleles in which beta-galactosidase replaces Fz5 or in which Cre-mediated recombination replaces Fz5 with alkaline phosphatase, we observe that Fz5 is required continuously and in a cell autonomous manner for the survival of adult PFN neur...