Efferent projections of the infralimbic (area 25) region of the medial prefrontal cortex in the rat: an anterograde tracer PHA-L study.

The efferent projections of the infralimbic region (IL) of the medial prefrontal cortex of the rat were examined by using the anterograde transport of Phaseolus vulgaris leucoagglutinin (PHA-L). Major targets of the IL were found to include the agranular insular cortex, olfactory tubercle, perirhinal cortex, the whole amygdaloid complex, caudate putamen, accumbens nucleus, bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, midline thalamic nuclei, the lateral preoptic nucleus, paraventricular nucleus, supramammillary nucleus, medial mammillary nucleus, dorsal and posterior areas of the hypothalamus, ventral tegmental area, central gray, interpeduncular nucleus, dorsal raphe, lateral parabrachial nucleus and locus coeruleus. Previously unreported projections of the IL to the anterior olfactory nucleus, piriform cortex, anterior hypothalamic area and lateroanterior hypothalamic nucleus were observed. The density of labeled terminals was especially high in the agranular insular cortex, olfactory tubercle, medial division of the mediodorsal nucleus of the thalamus, dorsal hypothalamic area and the lateral division of the central amygdaloid nucleus. Several physiological and pharmacological studies have suggested that the IL functions as the 'visceral motor' cortex, involved in autonomic integration with behavioral and emotional events. The present investigation is the first comprehensive study of the IL efferent projections to support this concept.