Abstract: | Retrograde horseradish peroxidase axonal transport techniques were used for quantifying the spatial organization of cortical neurons constituting descending fiber systems running to hypothalamic structures. This revealed the diversity of corticohypothalamic connections: the prefrontal cortex exerts a more marked effect on the hypothalamus than other cortical regions of the limbic system. Corticohypothalamic cells form neuronal groups at different frontal levels of the prefrontal cortex and cingulate gyrus; shape and orientation of cell groups are determined by the topography of predominant axonal systems travelling to the hypothalamus. Various forms of cell combinations occur within neuronal populations. Neuronal arrays may underlie the organizational principle of direct corticohypothalamic pathways.A. M. Gor'kii Medical Institute, Ministry of Public Health of the Ukrainian SSR, Donetsk. Translated from Neirofiziologiya, Vol. 22, No. 4, pp. 435–441, June–July, 1990. |