A Corticocortical Circuit Directly Links Retrosplenial Cortex to M2 in the Mouse

Abstract

Corticocortical pathways interconnect cortical areas extensively, but the cellular connectivity in these pathways remains largely uncharacterized. Here, we show that a posterior part of secondary motor cortex receives corticocortical axons from the rostral retrosplenial cortex (RSC) and these form monosynaptic excitatory connections onto a wide spectrum of excitatory projection neurons in this area. Our results define a cellular basis for direct communication from RSC to this medial frontal area, suggesting a direct link from dorsal hippocampal networks involved in spatial cognition and navigation (the "map") to sensorimotor networks involved the control of movement (the "motor").