PROJECTION OF CORTICAL AREA 6 TO BRAIN STEM IN MONKEY

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Abstract
To elucidate the 1st stage in the descending pathway which produces complicated movements in somatic musculature on stimulation of cortical area 6 in monkeys with pyramids cut, area 6 was strychninized in Macaca mulatta. Bipolar electrodes carried in a stereotactic instrument were used to explore the brain stem and simultaneous recordings of area 6 and deep (transmitted) strychnine spike activities were made with an oscillograph. Transmitted homolateral spikes were found in the subthalamic nucleus, substantia nigra, midbrain tegmentum, red nucleus, pontine tegmentum both ventral and dorsal, periaqueductal grey and adjacent tegmentum and in the pyramidal fibers. These connections, some of which have been demonstrated anatomically, provide 1 of many possible mechanisms whereby stimulation of area 6 produces movement after pyramidal section. The direct pathway from area 6 to what Magoun has called the facilitatory portion of the bulbar reticular formation giving rise to reticulo-spinal fibers provides a pathway permitting area 6 to act independently, as well as in association with area 4, in controlling posture and movement.

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