Supragranular pyramidal neurones in the medial posterior parietal cortex of the macaque monkey: morphological heterogeneity in subdivisions of area 7.

Pyramidal neurones were injected with Lucifer Yellow in cortical slices taken from layer III of the medial subdivision of cytoarchitectonic area 7 (7m) of the macaque monkey. Cross-sectional area, branching complexity and spine density of the basal dendritic fields were determined and compared with those of neurones in other areas of the dorsal processing stream. Layer III pyramidal neurones in area 7m have an average basal dendritic field area of 109.57 +/- 13.03 x 10(3) microm2, which is significantly greater than that obtained for neurones in the lateral intraparietal area (LIP) and area 7a. Moreover, Sholl analyses revealed that neurones in area 7m are significantly more complex in their branching patterns than those in LIP and area 7a. These results reinforce the view that, behind the apparent architectural uniformity of Brodmann's area 7, there is a significant diversity of neuronal structure and function.

[1]  G. Elston,et al.  Complex dendritic fields of pyramidal cells in the frontal eye field of the macaque monkey: comparison with parietal areas 7a and LIP , 1998, Neuroreport.

[2]  G. Elston,et al.  Neuronal composition and morphology in layer IV of two vibrissal barrel subfields of rat cortex. , 1997, Cerebral cortex.

[3]  P. Goldman-Rakic,et al.  Multiple visual areas in the posterior parietal cortex of primates. , 1993, Progress in brain research.

[4]  Sholl Da.  Dendritic organization in the neurons of the visual and motor cortices of the cat. , 1953 .

[5]  J. B. Levitt,et al.  Intrinsic lattice connections of macaque monkey visual cortical area V4 , 1992, The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience.

[6]  D. Pandya,et al.  Intrinsic connections and architectonics of posterior parietal cortex in the rhesus monkey , 1982, The Journal of comparative neurology.

[7]  P. Goldman-Rakic,et al.  Posterior parietal cortex in rhesus monkey: I. Parcellation of areas based on distinctive limbic and sensory corticocortical connections , 1989, The Journal of comparative neurology.

[8]  M G Rosa,et al.  Comparison of dendritic fields of layer III pyramidal neurons in striate and extrastriate visual areas of the marmoset: a Lucifer yellow intracellular injection. , 1996, Cerebral cortex.

[9]  J. Lund,et al.  Development of neurons in the visual cortex (area 17) of the monkey (Macaca nemestrina): A Golgi study from fetal day 127 to postnatal maturity , 1977, The Journal of comparative neurology.

[10]  G. Elston,et al.  Morphological variation of layer III pyramidal neurones in the occipitotemporal pathway of the macaque monkey visual cortex. , 1998, Cerebral cortex.

[11]  A. Peters,et al.  The organization of pyramidal cells in area 18 of the rhesus monkey. , 1997, Cerebral cortex.

[12]  J. DeFelipe,et al.  The pyramidal neuron of the cerebral cortex: Morphological and chemical characteristics of the synaptic inputs , 1992, Progress in Neurobiology.

[13]  B. Jacobs,et al.  Life‐span dendritic and spine changes in areas 10 and 18 of human cortex: A quantitative golgi study , 1997, The Journal of comparative neurology.

[14]  J. B. Levitt,et al.  Comparison of intrinsic connectivity in different areas of macaque monkey cerebral cortex. , 1993, Cerebral cortex.

[15]  G. Elston,et al.  The occipitoparietal pathway of the macaque monkey: comparison of pyramidal cell morphology in layer III of functionally related cortical visual areas. , 1997, Cerebral cortex.

[16]  D. J. Felleman,et al.  Distributed hierarchical processing in the primate cerebral cortex. , 1991, Cerebral cortex.

[17]  I Fujita,et al.  Intrinsic connections in the macaque inferior temporal cortex , 1996, The Journal of comparative neurology.

[18]  J. B. Levitt,et al.  Intrinsic cortical connections in macaque visual area V2: Evidence for interaction between different functional streams , 1994, The Journal of comparative neurology.

[19]  de Brabander,et al.  Layer‐specific dendritic regression of pyramidal cells with ageing in the human prefrontal cortex , 1998, The European journal of neuroscience.