A morphological study of the lateral olfactory areas of the telencephalon in the mongolian gerbil, Meriones unguiculatus
Salter, F.C.
Journal für Hirnforschung 16(3): 223-244
1975
ISSN/ISBN: 0021-8359 PMID: 1214053 Document Number: 89531
This study concerns the morphological description of the nuclear groups and fiber tracts in the olfactory areas in the lateral wall of the hemisphere of the gerbil. The sense of olfaction is assumed to play an important role in the gerbil's behavior (see Vol. 15, Sect. 4). The hippocampal formation, amygdala and corpus striatum are well-developed and differentiated structures in the gerbil. These areas receive either direct or indirect olfactory connections through such pathways as the medial and lateral olfactory tracts. Other fiber tracts such as the anterior commissure, fornix, stria terminalis and the lateral forebrain bundle, carrying somatic and/or visceral fibers, as well, distribute olfactory impulses to numerous areas of the gerbil's brain. The lateral forebrain bundle (perhaps the major correlative fiber tract for olfactory, visceral and somatic impulses) begins in the striatum and terminates in the ventral thalamus and midbrain tegmentum. From there fibers are sent to the spinal cord, thereby effecting voluntary motor responses.