The pontocerebellar system in the rat: an HRP study. II. Hemispheral components.

The projection of basilar pontine neurons to the cerebellar hemispheres was studied to pigmented rats by means of the retrograde transport of horseradish peroxidase. Injections of horseradish peroxidase were restricted to the lateral aspects of the lobulus simplex (11 cases), crus I (26 cases), crus II (23 cases), and paramedian lobule (18 cases). The main focus of labeled neurons following lobulus simplex injections of horseradish peroxidase was located in the ventral pons, at rostral levels. Interestingly, the majority of labeled cells were distributed ipsilateral to the injection site. After crus I injections, however, labeled neurons were most evident contralaterally , although labeled ipsilateral cells were conspicuous rostrally. The majority of labeled cells were characteristically distributed along the medial, ventral, and lateral perimeters of the pontine gray. This pattern of labeling contrasts with that in cases of crus II injections, in which the main focus of labeled somata occupied more central regions of medial and ventral portions of the pons. Similarly, the pattern of labeling following injections into the paramedian lobule largely avoided the medial and lateral perimeters of the pontine gray, while numerous labeled somata occupied the central region of the pons. In addition to the pontine regions described above, labeled cells were observed in various cases in the dorsal peduncular region, the lateral and dorsolateral areas, and the nuclear reticularis tegmenti pontis (NRTP) where three separate zones of labeling could be discerned in various cases. Several general organizational features were derived from these studies. Although specific quantitation procedures were not applied, the number of ipsilaterally labeled neurons was impressive in some cases, as was the mirror-image location of certain ipsi- and contralateral cell clusters. It was also noted that certain, similarly located clusters of labeled pontine neurons were present in cases in which injections were made into different cerebellar lobules, at least raising the possibility that some pontine neurons might give rise to divergent projections of multiple cerebellar locations, Moreover, it was evident that the location of certain clusters of labeled neurons was congruent with terminal zones of various pontine afferent systems, particularly those of the sensorimotor cortex. Combining the latter finding with the preceeding notion regarding pontocerebellar divergence suggests a mechanism by which sensorimotor information might be transmitted to several different cerebellar locations.