The cerebellar nuclear afferent and efferent connections with the lateral reticular nucleus in the cat as studied with retrograde transport of WGA-HRP.

The cerebellar nuclear projection from the lateral reticular nucleus (NRL) was studied in 29 cats by means of retrograde axonal transport after implantation of the crystalline wheat germ agglutinin-horseradish peroxidase (WGA-HRP) complex in the cerebellar nuclei. It was confirmed that all the cerebellar nuclei receive afferent fibres from the NRL with the strongest termination in the ipsilateral interposed nuclei. In addition, these experiments give evidence of a previously unrecognized topical pattern in the projection to the interposed nuclei, arranged according to the same principle as in the projection to the immediately overlying cerebellar cortex. Thus, the anterior interposed nucleus receives fibres from all parts of the main NRL, its rostral part especially from laterally situated neurons, while subsequent more caudal parts from more medially situated neurons, while the posterior interposed nucleus receives fibres mainly from the dorsomedial part of the main NRL. The cerebellar nuclear projection to the NRL was investigated in 15 cats using retrograde transport after ventral microiontophoretical ejections of the WGA-HRP complex in the main NRL. The contralateral rostral fastigial nucleus was confirmed as the main origin of this projection, but projecting neurons were, in addition, discovered rostrally in the anterior interposed and dentate nuclei on the same side. No topical differences could be observed following ejections in different parts of the NRL; the majority of the projecting neurons were always concentrated along the ventral and lateral borders of the fastigial nucleus and in the adjacent medial part of the anterior interposed nucleus.