Organization of afferent and efferent projections of the nucleus basalis prosencephali in a passerine, Taeniopygia guttata.

Abstract

The connections of nucleus basalis (NB) of the rostral forebrain of the zebra finch were investigated electrophysiologically and with anterograde and retrograde tracing methods to determine their functional organization, the sources of their pontine afferents, and the targets of their telencephalic efferents. The nucleus was found to be partitioned into three major components, a rostral lingual part that received a hypoglossal projection via a lateral subnucleus of the principal sensory trigeminal nucleus (PrV), a middle beak part that received a trigeminal projection via a medial subnucleus of PrV, and a caudal auditory part that received a short latency auditory projection via the intermediate nucleus of the lateral lemniscus. Beak NB also received a projection from a paralateral lemniscal nucleus, and the dorsocaudal part of auditory NB and the medially adjacent neostriatum also received a projection from a lateral subnucleus of the superior vestibular nucleus (VS). The efferent projections of each of the three major parts of NB were mainly to the adjacent neostriatum frontale (NF), which then provided projections to the lobus parolfactorius (exclusive of area X), the lateral archistriatum intermedium (Ail), and the lateral neostriatum caudale (NCl). Ail received a projection from NCl and provided terminal fields to the contralateral NCl and the NF. The major projections of Ail, however, descended bilaterally through the brainstem via the occipitomesencephalic tracts, with dense terminations in the medial spiriform nucleus and with extensive bilateral terminations throughout the lateral reticular formation of the pons and medulla. For the most part, jaw, tongue, and tracheosyringeal motor nuclei did not receive terminations. The results suggest that NB in zebra finch, like NB in pigeon and duck, is likely to be a major component of trigeminal sensorimotor circuitry involved in feeding and in other oral-manipulative behaviors. Results also show that the auditory component of NB is not directly linked to the vocal control system at telencephalic levels, but the possibility remains that the lingual, beak, and auditory parts of NB play a role in vocalization by multisynaptic influences on cranial nerve motor nuclei innervating various parts of the vocal tract.