PMID- 24188795
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20140815
LR  - 20140106
IS  - 1460-9568 (Electronic)
IS  - 0953-816X (Linking)
VI  - 39
IP  - 1
DP  - 2014 Jan
TI  - The vomeronasal cortex - afferent and efferent projections of the posteromedial 
      cortical nucleus of the amygdala in mice.
PG  - 141-58
LID - 10.1111/ejn.12393 [doi]
AB  - Most mammals possess a vomeronasal system that detects predominantly chemical 
      signals of biological relevance. Vomeronasal information is relayed to the 
      accessory olfactory bulb (AOB), whose unique cortical target is the posteromedial 
      cortical nucleus of the amygdala. This cortical structure should therefore be 
      considered the primary vomeronasal cortex. In the present work, we describe the 
      afferent and efferent connections of the posteromedial cortical nucleus of the 
      amygdala in female mice, using anterograde (biotinylated dextranamines) and 
      retrograde (Fluorogold) tracers, and zinc selenite as a tracer specific for 
      zinc-enriched (putative glutamatergic) projections. The results show that the 
      posteromedial cortical nucleus of the amygdala is strongly interconnected not 
      only with the rest of the vomeronasal system (AOB and its target structures in 
      the amygdala), but also with the olfactory system (piriform cortex, 
      olfactory-recipient nuclei of the amygdala and entorhinal cortex). Therefore, the 
      posteromedial cortical nucleus of the amygdala probably integrates olfactory and 
      vomeronasal information. In addition, the posteromedial cortical nucleus of the 
      amygdala shows moderate interconnections with the associative (basomedial) 
      amygdala and with the ventral hippocampus, which may be involved in emotional and 
      spatial learning (respectively) induced by chemical signals. Finally, the 
      posteromedial cortical nucleus of the amygdala gives rise to zinc-enriched 
      projections to the ventrolateral septum and the ventromedial striatum (including 
      the medial islands of Calleja). This pattern of intracortical connections (with 
      the olfactory cortex and hippocampus, mainly) and cortico-striatal excitatory 
      projections (with the olfactory tubercle and septum) is consistent with its 
      proposed nature as the primary vomeronasal cortex.
CI  - (c) 2013 Federation of European Neuroscience Societies and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
FAU - Gutierrez-Castellanos, Nicolas
AU  - Gutierrez-Castellanos N
AD  - Laboratori de Neuroanatomia Funcional Comparada, Departaments de Biologia 
      Cellular i de Biologia Funcional, Facultat de Ciencies Biologiques, Universitat 
      de Valencia, Burjassot, 46100, Valencia, Spain.
FAU - Pardo-Bellver, Cecilia
AU  - Pardo-Bellver C
FAU - Martinez-Garcia, Fernando
AU  - Martinez-Garcia F
FAU - Lanuza, Enrique
AU  - Lanuza E
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
PT  - Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
DEP - 20131104
PL  - France
TA  - Eur J Neurosci
JT  - The European journal of neuroscience
JID - 8918110
SB  - IM
MH  - Afferent Pathways/anatomy & histology/physiology
MH  - Amygdala/anatomy & histology/*physiology
MH  - Animals
MH  - Efferent Pathways/anatomy & histology/physiology
MH  - Entorhinal Cortex/anatomy & histology/physiology
MH  - Female
MH  - Mice
MH  - Vomeronasal Organ/anatomy & histology/*physiology
OTO - NOTNLM
OT  - accessory olfactory bulb
OT  - chemosensory
OT  - olfactory learning
OT  - pheromones
OT  - tract tracing
EDAT- 2013/11/06 06:00
MHDA- 2014/08/16 06:00
CRDT- 2013/11/06 06:00
PHST- 2013/07/26 00:00 [received]
PHST- 2013/09/13 00:00 [revised]
PHST- 2013/09/17 00:00 [accepted]
PHST- 2013/11/06 06:00 [entrez]
PHST- 2013/11/06 06:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2014/08/16 06:00 [medline]
AID - 10.1111/ejn.12393 [doi]
PST - ppublish
SO  - Eur J Neurosci. 2014 Jan;39(1):141-58. doi: 10.1111/ejn.12393. Epub 2013 Nov 4.