The thalamic afferents to the inferior parietal lobule of the rhesus monkey

Abstract The inferior parietal lobule (IPL) of the monkey is the homologous region to the supramarginal and angular gyri in man, subserving language and related cortical functions. We have examined specific zones of the IPL by injecting eight monkeys with retrogradely transported HRP, and located the positive cells in the thalamic sections with the assistance of an X‐Y plotter and reference to the atlas of Olszewski ('52). Projections to the IPL were found in the following thalamic nuclei: Anterior (Anterior Medial, Anterior Ventral); Lateral (Ventral Anterior, Ventral Anterior magnocellularis, Ventral Lateral caudalis, Pulvinar oralis, medialis, lateralis and inferior, Lateral Posterior and Lateral Dorsal); Medial (Medialis Dorsalis densocellularis, parvocellularis, and multiformis); Midline and Intralaminar (Centralis densocellularis, Centralis lateralis, Centralis inferior, Centralis superior lateralis, Subfascicularis parvocellularis, Paracentralis and Parafascicularis); and Posterior (Limitans, Suprageniculatus and Geniculatus Medialis magnocellularis). A major projection to the superior portion of the IPL was from the anterior nuclei and Paracentralis of the intralaminar group. Ventralis Lateralis and oral Pulvinar projected primarily to the anterior‐inferior portion of the IPL, whereas Lateral Posterior projected most strongly to the anterior and superior portion. The major projection of the lateral Pulvinar was to the mid‐superior portion of the IPL and to area 19. The projections of the inferior Fulvinar were heaviest to area 19, but there was some overlap in the mid‐superior portion of the IPL with the medial and lateral Pulvinar. The major projection from the posterior thalamic nuclear complex was to the mid‐IPL. The heterogeneous input from the thalamus to the IPL was not anticipated on the basis of prior anterograde or retrograde degeneration studies, and suggests that classical subdivisions of specific and associational thalamic nuclei should be revised with the axonal transport methods of study.