Dataset Information

The efferent connections of the orbitofrontal, posterior parietal, and insular cortex of the rat brain.

ABSTRACT: The orbitofrontal, posterior parietal, and insular cortices are sites of higher-order cognitive processing implicated in a wide range of behaviours, including working memory, attention guiding, decision making, and spatial navigation. To better understand how these regions contribute to such functions, we need detailed knowledge about the underlying structural connectivity. Several tract-tracing studies have investigated specific aspects of orbitofrontal, posterior parietal and insular connectivity, but a digital resource for studying the cortical and subcortical projections from these areas in detail is not available. We here present a comprehensive collection of brightfield and fluorescence microscopic images of serial coronal sections from 49 rat brain tract-tracing experiments, in which discrete injections of the anterograde tracers biotinylated dextran amine and/or Phaseolus vulgaris leucoagglutinin were placed in the orbitofrontal, parietal, or insular cortex. The images are spatially registered to the Waxholm Space Rat brain atlas. The image collection, with corresponding reference atlas maps, is suitable as a reference framework for investigating the brain-wide efferent connectivity of these cortical association areas.

SUBMITTER: Reiten I

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10514078 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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The efferent connections of the orbitofrontal, posterior parietal, and insular cortex of the rat brain.

Reiten Ingrid I Olsen Grethe M GM Bjaalie Jan G JG Witter Menno P MP Leergaard Trygve B TB

Scientific data 20230921 1

The orbitofrontal, posterior parietal, and insular cortices are sites of higher-order cognitive processing implicated in a wide range of behaviours, including working memory, attention guiding, decision making, and spatial navigation. To better understand how these regions contribute to such functions, we need detailed knowledge about the underlying structural connectivity. Several tract-tracing studies have investigated specific aspects of orbitofrontal, posterior parietal and insular connectiv ...[more]

PMID: 37735463

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Project description:The posterior parietal cortex (PPC) in rodents is reciprocally connected to primary somatosensory and vibrissal motor cortices. The PPC neuronal circuitry could thus encode and potentially integrate incoming somatosensory information and whisker motor output. However, the information encoded across PPC layers during refined sensorimotor behavior remains largely unknown. To uncover the sensorimotor features represented in PPC during voluntary whisking and object touch, we performed loose-patch single-unit recordings and extracellular recordings of ensemble activity, covering all layers of PPC in anesthetized and awake, behaving male rats. First, using single-cell receptive field mapping, we revealed the presence of coarse somatotopy along the mediolateral axis in PPC. Second, we found that spiking activity was modulated during exploratory whisking in layers 2-4 and layer 6, but not in layer 5 of awake, behaving rats. Population spiking activity preceded actual movement, and whisker trajectory endpoints could be decoded by population spiking, suggesting that PPC is involved in movement planning. Finally, population spiking activity further increased in response to active whisker touch but only in PPC layers 2-4. Thus, we find layer-specific processing, which emphasizes the computational role of PPC during whisker sensorimotor behavior.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The posterior parietal cortex (PPC) is thought to merge information on motor output and sensory input to orchestrate interaction with the environment, but the function of different PPC microcircuit components is poorly understood. We recorded neuronal activity in rat PPC during sensorimotor behavior involving motor and sensory pathways. We uncovered that PPC layers have dedicated function: motor and sensory information is merged in layers 2-4; layer 6 predominantly represents motor information. Collectively, PPC activity predicts future motor output, thus entailing a motor plan. Our results are important for understanding how PPC computationally processes motor output and sensory input. This understanding may facilitate decoding of brain activity when using brain-machine interfaces to overcome loss of function after, for instance, spinal cord injury.

Project description:The orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and hippocampus share striking cognitive and functional similarities. As a result, both structures have been proposed to encode "cognitive maps" that provide useful scaffolds for planning complex behaviors. However, while this function has been exemplified by spatial coding in neurons of hippocampal regions-particularly place and grid cells-spatial representations in the OFC have been investigated far less. Here we sought to address this by recording OFC neurons from male rats engaged in an open-field foraging task like that originally developed to characterize place fields in rodent hippocampal neurons. Single-unit activity was recorded as rats searched for food pellets scattered randomly throughout a large enclosure. In some sessions, particular flavors of food occurred more frequently in particular parts of the enclosure; in others, only a single flavor was used. OFC neurons showed spatially localized firing fields in both conditions, and representations changed between flavored and unflavored foraging periods in a manner reminiscent of remapping in the hippocampus. Compared with hippocampal recordings taken under similar behavioral conditions, OFC spatial representations were less temporally reliable, and there was no significant evidence of grid tuning in OFC neurons. These data confirm that OFC neurons show spatial firing fields in a large, two-dimensional environment in a manner similar to hippocampus. Consistent with the focus of the OFC on biological meaning and goals, spatial coding was weaker than in hippocampus and influenced by outcome identity.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and hippocampus have both been proposed to encode "cognitive maps" that provide useful scaffolds for planning complex behaviors. This function is exemplified by place and grid cells identified in hippocampus, the activity of which maps spatial environments. The current study directly demonstrates very similar, though not identical, spatial representatives in OFC neurons, confirming that OFC-like hippocampus-can represent a spatial map under the appropriate experimental conditions.

Dataset Information

The efferent connections of the orbitofrontal, posterior parietal, and insular cortex of the rat brain.

Publications

The efferent connections of the orbitofrontal, posterior parietal, and insular cortex of the rat brain.

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