Whole ‐brain neural connectivity to cholinergic neurons in the nucleus basalis of Meynert

Nucleus basalis of Meynert (NBM) cholinergic neurons mainly received inputs from the caudate putamen and the posterior limb of the anterior commissure in the subcortex. Moreover, the majority of cholinergic terminals from the NBM were observed in the cortex mantle, especially the motor cortex, sensory cortex. Interestingly, although NBM cholinergic neurons received input projections from the caudate putamen (CPu), interstitial nucleus of the posterior limb of the anterior commissure (IPAC), central amygdaloid nucleus (CeA), and lateral globus pallidus (LGP), NBM cholinergic neurons sparsely sent axon projection to innervate these areas. Furthermore, primary motor cortex (M1), secondary motor cortex (M2), primary somatosensory cortex (S1), visual cortex (VC), and reticular thalamic nucleus (RT) received abundant inputs from the NBM but sent few outputs to the NBM. AbstractThe cholinergic neurons in the nucleus basalis of Meynert (NBM) are a key structure in cognition, the dysfunction of which is associated with various neurological disorders, especially dementias. However, the whole-brain neural connectivity to cholinergic neurons in the NBM remains to be further and comprehensively researched. Using virus-based, specific, retrograde, and anterograde tracing, we illustrated the monosynaptic inputs and axon projections of NBM cholinergic neurons in choline acetyltransferase (ChAT)-Cre transgenic mice. Our results showed that NBM cholinergic neurons received mainly inputs from t...
Source: Journal of Neurochemistry - Category: Neuroscience Authors: Tags: ORIGINAL ARTICLE Source Type: research