Zinc-containing telencephalic connections to the rat striatum: a combined Fluoro-Gold tracing and histochemical study

The organization of telencephalic zinc-containing neurons projecting to the rat striatum was investigated by combining intrastriatal injections of the retrograde fluorescent tracer Fluoro-Gold with histochemistry revealing zinc-containing neurons and terminals. Throughout the ipsilateral and contralateral neocortex, corticostriatal zinc-containing neurons with striatal projections were located predominantly at the border between deep layer V and superficial layer VI. Additional, but fewer zinc-containing neurons were located in layers II, III and deep layer VI of the ipsilateral neocortex. The main neocortical source of zinc-containing afferents to the striatum were the frontal motor cortices. Smaller contingents of zinc-containing projections arose from the motor cortical forelimb and hindlimb areas and the parietal cortical areas. In the cingulate cortex, zinc-containing neurons with striatal projections were found predominantly in the ipsilateral layers II and III, with only few neurons in the ipsilateral layer VI and in the contralateral layers II, III and VI. Subcortically, zinc-containing neurons belonging to the amygdalostriatal projection were found bilaterally in the basolateral and basomedial nuclei of the amygdala. Zinc has been found to modulate the response of many ligand- and voltage-gated ion channels, including both GABA receptors and NMDA-, AMPA- and kainate-type glutamate receptors. The present findings raise the possibility that zinc in the corticostriatal projections might play a role in the selective, possibly excitotoxic, cell death of GABAergic projections seen in Huntington's disease.