Summary
Two somatosensory regions in the pigeon's telencephalon were investigated electrophysiologically with recordings of field potentials as well as single- and multi-unit responses which were evoked by electrical stimulation of all four extremities or by feather movements produced with airpuffs or by hand. The outline of both areas, was studied in detail with the use of grid-like recordings of single or multi-units. One somatosensory area is located rostrally in the hyperstriatum accessorium (HA), rostral to the visual “Wulst”. A caudal area comprises the medial aspects of two different cell layers: the neostriatum intermedium (NI) and adjacent neostriatum caudale (NC) as well as the overlying hyperstriatum ventrale (HV). The two areas differ considerably in their response characteristics. Field potentials of the NI/NC-HV area were more complex than those of the HA area and their shapes and latencies varied mainly in dependence of the recording site (NI, NC, HV). Multi-unit responses showed strong excitation and short latencies in NI/NC and weak excitation and longer latencies in HV. Both responses and latencies were uniform in the HA area and latencies generally longer than in NI/NC but shorter than in HV. The HA area processes somatosensory information more specifically. Its neurons have relatively small receptive fields which seem to be arranged in a somatotopic order in such a way that rostral parts of the body are represented superficially and caudal parts in deeper layers. In contrast, the NI/NC-HV area was found to be largely multimodal, receiving also auditory and visual information. Neurons in this region have large somatic receptive fields, often including one and sometimes even both sides of the body surface. A somatotopic arrangement could not be recognized. The whole body surface was representated in both areas, but there was a dominance of wing and back receptive fields in the NI/NC-HV area and leg and neck receptive fields in the HA area.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Adamo NJ, King RL (1967) Evoked responses in the chicken telencephalon to auditory, visual, and tactile stimulation. Exp Neurol 17:498–504
Bagnoli P, Burkhalter A (1983) Organisation of the afferent projections to the wulst in the pigeon. J Comp Neurol 214:103–113
Biederman-Thorson M (1970a) Auditory evoked responses in the cerebrum (field L) and ovoid nucleus of the ring dove. Brain Res 24:235–245
Biederman-Thorson M (1970b) Auditory responses of units in the ovoid nucleus and cerebrum (field L) of the ring dove. Brain Res 24:247–256
Bonke BA, Bonke D, Scheich H (1979) Connectivity of the auditory forebrain nuclei in the guinea fowl (Numida meleagris). Cell Tissue Res 200:101–121
Burton H, Kopf EM (1984) Connections between the thalamus and the somatosensory areas of the anterior ectosylvian gyrus in the cat. J Comp Neurol 224:173–205
Burton H, Mitchell G, Brent D (1982) Second somatic sensory area in the cerebral cortex of cats: somatotopic organisation and cytoarchitecture. J Comp Neurol 210:109–135
Delius JD, Bennetto K (1972) Cutaneous sensory projections to the avian forebrain. Brain Res 37:205–221
Erulkar SD (1955) Tactile and auditory areas in the brain of the pigeon. J Comp Neurol 103:421–458
Felix B, Roesch T (1986) Telencephalic bill projections in the landes goose. Somatosens Res 4:141–152
Felix B, Kesar S, Roesch T (1983) Central localisation of somatic evoked responses in landes goose. Exp Brain Res 53:173–182
Funke K (1987) Evoked responses and afferent connections of two somatosensory areas in the pigeons forebrain. In: Elsner N, Creutzfeldt O (eds) New frontiers in brain research. Georg Thieme Verlag, Stuttgart New York, S197
Funke K (1988) Spinal projections to the dorsal column nuclei in pigeons. Neurosci Lett 91:295–300
Funke K (1989) Somatosensory areas in the telencephalon of the pigeon. II. Spinal pathways and afferent connections. Exp Brain Res 76:620–638
Gamlin PDR, Cohen DH (1986) A second ascending visual pathway from the optic tectum to the telencephalon in the pigeon (Columba livia). J Comp Neurol 250:296–310
Gogan P (1963) Projections sensorielles au niveau du telencephale chez le pigeon sans anesthesie generale. J Physiol Paris 55:258–259
Güntürkün O (1984) Evidence for a third primary visual area in the telencephalon of the pigeon. Brain Res 294:247–254
Karten HJ (1968) The ascending auditory pathway in the pigeon (Columba livia). II. Telencephalic projections of the nucleus ovoidalis thalami. Brain Res 11:134–153
Karten HJ (1969) The organisation of the avian telencephalon and some speculations on the phylogeny of the amniote telencephalon. In: Noback C, Petras J (eds) Comparative and evolutionary aspects of the vertebrate central nervous system. Ann NY Acad Sci 167:164–179
Karten HJ, Hodos W (1967) A stereotactic atlas of the brain of the pigeon. John Hopkins Press, Baltimore
Karten HJ, Konishi M, Pettigrew JD (1978) Somatosensory representation in the anterior wulst of the owl (Speotyto cunicularis). Soc Neurosci Abstr 4:554
Karten HJ, Hodos W, Nauta WJH, Revzin AM (1973) Neural connections of the “visual wulst” of the avian telencephalon: experimental studies in the pigeon (Columba livia) and owl (Speotyto cunicularia). J Comp Neurol 150:253–278
Korzeniewska E (1987) Multisensory integration in the thalamus of the pigeon (Columba livia). Neurosci Lett 80:55–60
Miceli D, Reperant J (1982) Thalamo-hyperstriatal projections in the pigeon (Columba livia) as demonstrated by retrograde double-labeling with fluorescent tracers. Brain Res 245:365–371
Miceli D, Reperant J (1985) Telencephalic afferent projections from the diencephalon and brainstem in the pigeon: a retrograde multi-label fluorescent study. Exp Biol 44:71–99
Miceli D, Gioanni H, Reperant J, Peyrichoux J (1979) The avian visual wulst. I. An anatomical study of afferent and efferent pathways. II. An electrophysiological study of the functional properties of single neurons. In: Granda AM, Maxwell JH (eds) Neural mechanisms of behavior in the pigeon. Plenum Publishing Corporation
Minciacchi D, Tassinari G, Antonini A (1987) Visual and somatosensory integration in the anterior ectosylvian cortex of the cat. Brain Res 410:21–31
Müller CM, Leppelsack HJ (1985) Feature extraction and tonotopic organisation of the avian auditory forebrain. Exp Brain Res 59:587–599
Necker R, Rehkämper G (1982) Somatosensory projection fields in the telencephalon of the pigeon: topography and afferent connections. Pflügers Arch Suppl 394:R58
Nixdorf BE, Bischof HJ (1982) Afferent connections of the ectostriatum and visual wulst in the zebra finch. Brain Res 248:9–17
Northcutt RG (1981) Evolution of the telencephalon in non-mammals. Ann Rev Neurosci 4:301–350
Pettigrew JD, Konishi M (1976) Neurons selective for orientation and binocular disparity. Science 193:675–678
Rose M (1914) Über die cytoarchitektonische Gliederung des Vorderhirns der Vögel. Z Psychol Neurol 21:278–352
Rübsamen R, Dörrscheid GJ (1986) Tonotopic organisation of the auditory forebrain in a songbird, the European starling. J Physiol A 158:639–646
Ulinski PS (1983) Dorsal ventricular ridge: a treatise on forebrain organisation in reptiles and birds. In: Northcutt RG (ed) Wiley series in neurobiology. Wiley-Interscience Publication, J Wiley and Sons, New York Chichester Brisbane Toronto Singapore
Wild JM (1983) Ascending projections of the dorsal column and external cuneate nuclei in the pigeon. Neuroscience Suppl Vol 11:881
Wild JM (1987) The avian Somatosensory system: connections of regions of body representation in the forebrain of the pigeon. Brain Res 412:205–223
Witkovsky P, Zeigler HP, Silver R (1973) The nucleus basalis of the pigeon: a single unit analysis. J Comp Neurol 147:119–128
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Funke, K. Somatosensory areas in the telencephalon of the pigeon. Exp Brain Res 76, 603–619 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00248917
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00248917