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Demonstration of a somatotopical pattern in the cortico-olivary projection in the cat an experimental-anatomical study

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Summary

Following small lesions of the first sensorimotor (MSI) and second somatosensory (SII) cortical areas the ensuing degeneration in the inferior olives was studied with the Nauta method in 14 cats.

No convincing signs of degeneration were found in the olives in cases with lesions restricted to the first and second somatosensory areas (SI and SII). Following lesions of the primary “motor” cortex (anterior sigmoid gyrus and rostral part of the coronal gyrus) degeneration was consistently found in the olive of both sides. The contralateral projection is somewhat more abundant than the ipsilateral, but both are modest.

Degeneration is restricted to certain parts of the olivary complex (see Fig. 11). Lesions restricted to different somatotopical subdivisions of the primary “motor” cortex give rise to degeneration distributed in a somatotopical pattern in certain areas of the medial and dorsal accessory olives and the rostral part of the ventral lamella. Somatotopical patterns could not be established in the smaller projections to some other minor olivary regions.

When the findings are correlated with the pattern of the olivocerebellar projection it can be concluded that there is a somatotopically organized direct corticoolivo-cerebellar pathway to the intermediate part of the anterior lobe, the posterior vermis and the crus II.

Attempts to correlate the findings with physiological observations are difficult. It appears that the current view that climbing fibres arise only in the olive may need revision. The role of the pontine nuclei in mediating somatotopically localized cerebellocerebellar impulses appears to have been underestimated.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Anatomical Institute, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway

    Alexandre Sousa-Pinto & Ale Brodal

  2. Anatomical Institute Medical School University of Porto, Portugal

    Alexandre Sousa-Pinto

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  1. Alexandre Sousa-Pinto
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  2. Ale Brodal
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Working in the Anatomical Institute, University of Oslo, Norway, with leave of absence from the Anatomical Institute, University of Porto, Portugal, under a fellowship from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon, Portugal.

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Sousa-Pinto, A., Brodal, A. Demonstration of a somatotopical pattern in the cortico-olivary projection in the cat an experimental-anatomical study. Exp Brain Res 8, 364–386 (1969). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00234382

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00234382

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