Contralateral corticothalamic projections from area 6 in the raccoon

Contralateral corticothalamic projections from cytoarchitectonic area 6 in the raccoon were studied using the autoradiographic tracing technique. Following injections of tritiated amino acids, accumulations of silver grains were present over both the ipsilateral and contralateral ventral medial, central lateral, paracentral, central medial, parafascicular and mediodorsal thalamic nuclei. These nuclei are also known to receive a number bilateral subcortical motor inputs. The additional presence of bilateral area 6 inputs suggests that these thalamic nuclei may be critically involved in the bilateral control of movement.