Callosal mechanism for the interhemispheric transfer of hand somatosensory information in the monkey

The retrograde transport of horseradish peroxidase (HRP) was combined with extracellular microelectrode recording from single and multiple-neurones to study the anatomical and functional organization of the callosal connections of the hand sensory projection field in the parietal operculum of monkeys (Macaca Irus). In 3 animals anaesthetized with ketamine, a single injection of HRP (0.5 microliter) was delivered into the cortex forming the upper bank of the sylvian sulcus at a site where neuronal responses to somatic sensory stimulation of the hand were recorded. In the ipsilateral hemisphere, retrogradely HRP-labelled cells were found in the cortex of the post-central gyrus and in the thalamic nuclei ventralis posteroinferior and pulvinar oralis. In the contralateral hemisphere HRP-labelled neurones were present in the opercular cortex lying dorsal, and slightly caudal, to the posterior pole of the insula. Few scattered callosal neurones were also found in the post-central gyrus. In 3 other animals, multiple injections (5-8; 0.5 microliter each) of HRP were performed in the parietal operculum. In the ipsilateral hemisphere, retrogradely labelled cells were present in the post-central gyrus and in the following thalamic nuclei: ventralis posteroinferior, pulvinar oralis and medialis, ventralis posteromedialis and posterior complex. Few labelled cells were also present in the ventral part of the nucleus ventralis posterolateralis. In the contralateral hemisphere, numerous callosal cells were labelled with HRP. These cells were found, with regional variations in density, in wide regions of the buried and exposed cortex of the parietal operculum and in the post-central gyrus. These 3 monkeys were subjected to microelectrode mapping experiments (N2O and halothane anaesthesia) to explore the peripheral receptive fields of neurones in the parietal operculum and post-central gyrus contralateral to the injected side. HRP labelled callosal neurones were found in regions of the second and first somatosensory cortical areas which also contained units driven from the contralateral hand.