Cortical connections of area 2 and posterior parietal area 5 in macaque monkeys

The overarching goal of the current investigation was to examine the connections of anterior parietal area 2 and the medial portion of posterior parietal area 5 in macaque monkeys; two areas that are part of a network involved reaching and grasping in primates. We injected neuroanatomical tracers into specified locations in each field and directly related labeled cells to histologically identified cortical field boundaries. Labeled cells were counted so that the relative density of projections to areas 2 and 5 from other cortical fields could be determined. Projections to area 2 were restricted and were predominantly from other somatosensory areas of the anterior parietal cortex (areas 1, 3b, and 3a), the second somatosensory area (S2), and from medial and lateral portions of area 5 (5M and 5L respectively). On the other hand, area 5M had very broadly distributed projections from a number of cortical areas including anterior parietal areas, from primary motor cortex (M1), premotor cortex (PM), the supplementary motor area (SMA), cortex on the medial wall, and from posterior parietal areas 5L and 7b. The more restricted pattern of connections of area 2 indicates that it processes somatic inputs locally and provides proprioceptive information to area 5M. 5M, which at least partially overlaps with functionally defined area MIP, receives inputs from somatosensory (predominantly from area 2), posterior parietal and motor cortex, which could provide the substrate for representing multiple coordinate systems necessary for planning ethologically relevant movements, particularly those involving the hand.