The ipsilateral and contralateral connections of the fifth somatosensory area (SV) in the cat cerebral cortex.

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THE ipsilateral and contralateral corticocortical connections to the fifth somatosensory area (SV) in the feline cortex were determined from the location of retrogradely labelled cells following a single injection of HRP into SV. The injection was made into physiologically defined components of the body representation in SV. After injection of HRP into the face regions of SV, HRP-labelled cells were located ipsilaterally in areas 6 beta, 3b and 1-2 of the primary somatosensory (SI), in the second somatosensory (SII), third somatosensory (SIII), and fourth somatosensory (SIV) areas, along the ansate sulcus, and in areas 5a and 6a beta of the ipsilateral cortex, as well as in area 1-2 of SI and in SV of the contralateral cortex. On the other hand, after HRP had been injected into the trunk/hindlimb area, HRP-labelled cells were located in areas 3a, 1-2 of SI, in area 5, in SII, in SIII and in SIV of the ipsilateral cortex, as well as in area 1-2 of SI, and in SV of the contralateral cortex. The extent of these interconnections suggests that SV receives multiple sensory inputs and may function to integrate this information.