Cortical connections of the rat lateral posterior thalamic nucleus.

Spatial processing related to directed attention is thought to be mediated by a specific cortical-basal ganglia-thalamic-cortical network in the rat. Key components of this network are associative cortical areas medial agranular cortex (AGm) and posterior parietal cortex (PPC), dorsocentral striatum (DCS), and lateral posterior (LP) thalamic nucleus, all of which are interconnected. Previously, we found that thalamostriatal projections reaching DCS arise from separate populations of neurons of the mediorostral part of LP (LPMR).