Organization of the projections from the posterior parietal cortex to the rostral and caudal regions of the motor cortex of the cat

Abstract

The posterior parietal cortex (PPC) is an important source of input to the motor cortex in both the primate and the cat. However, the available evidence from the cat suggests that the projection from the PPC to those rostral areas of the motor cortex that project to the intermediate and ventral parts of the spinal gray matter is relatively small. This leaves in question the importance of the contribution of the PPC to the initiation and modulation of voluntary movements in the cat. As this anatomical evidence is not entirely compatible with the physiological data, we reinvestigated the PPC projection to the motor cortex by injecting dextran amine tracers either into the proximal or distal representations of the forelimb in the rostral motor cortex, into the representation of the forelimb in the caudal motor cortex, or into the hindlimb representation. The results show strong projections from the PPC to each of these regions. However, projections to the rostral motor cortex were observed primarily from the caudal bank of the ansate sulcus and the adjacent gyrus, whereas those to the caudal motor cortex were generally located more rostrally. There was also evidence of some topographic organization with the distal limb being located progressively more laterally and rostrally in the PPC than the areas projecting to more proximal regions. In contrast to previous anatomical investigations, these results suggest that the PPC can potentially modulate motor activity via its strong projection to the more rostral regions of the motor cortex.