Zinc-containing innervation of the subicular region in the rat

Abstract

The subiculum is densely innervated by zinc-containing axonal terminals, but the cells of origin of those zinc-containing afferents have not previously been identified. In the present work the zinc-specific retrograde tracing method was employed to locate the zinc-containing neurons afferent to the subicular complex. Following microinfusions into the subicular region, the somata of zinc-containing neurons were found in the hippocampus, the pre- and para subiculum, retrosplenial, cingulate, and perirhinal cortices, and in the anterodorsal nucleus of the thalamus. The results show another component of the zinc-containing associational network that interconnects the cerebral cortex and amygdalohippocampal systems of the brain.