Medial agranular prefrontal cortex (AGm) in rat has been called an """"""""integrative"""""""" area of the brain. It's lateral border has connections reminiscent of frontal eye fields in monkey and ablation of the medial prefrontal cortex in rat results in a contralateral hemispatial neglect. However, connections with the amygdala, claustrum, and nucleus accumbens also argues for """"""""limbic"""""""" function (for example, involving motivation or also learning). Rat AGm is a small areas and to date has not been subdivided. However, preliminary results from my laboratory indicate that there are probably subdivisions in AGm which can be described based on afferent and efferent connections. We will use small injections of a sensitive anterograde tracer, Phaseolus vulgaris leucoagglutinin to identify projection fields. Combinations of three of these fields will then be injected with one of 3 retrograde fluorescent tracers, and the distribution of labelled cells in AGm will be made. These experiments will allow us to determine if AGm contains axons with collaterals which project to more than one terminal field. It should also allow a more detailed analysis of AGm organization of rat and answer the question of whether areas which project to """"""""visual centers"""""""" also project to """"""""limbic areas"""""""" or whether AGm in rat can be further subdivided. Since rats are increasing used in experiments on cortical function, it is important to know the neural substrates of these functions.
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