Gustatory cortex

Rosenblum, K., Meiri, N. and Dudai, Y. (1993) Taste memory the role of protein synthesis in gustatory cortex. Behav Neural Biol 59,49-56. 

The NAc receives brainstem information related to taste and visceral functions through direct input from the nucleus of the solitary tract to the medial shell as well as indirect input from the gustatory cortex to the lateral shell and core via parabrachial projections to the gustatory thalamus (Ricardo and Koh, 1978 Saper, 1982). Additonal taste information is relayed to the NAc from the basolateral amygdala, that integrates taste... 

Kosar E, Grill HJ, Norgren R. 1986. Gustatory cortex in the rat. II. Thalamocortical projections. Brain Res 379 342-352. 

Schematic diagram of the gustatory pathway in rodents. Taste receptor cells are innervated by one of three cranial nerves (VII, IX, or X), which project topographically into the rostral portion of nucleus of the solitary tract (NST). Cells within the NST send projections into the reticular formation (RF), through which connections are made to oral motor nuclei V, VII, and XII and the nucleus ambiguous (NA). Ascending fibers connect to the parabrachial nuclei (PbN) of the pons, from which two parallel pathways emerge. One pathway carries taste information to the insular cortex (IC) via the ventral posterior medial nucleus, parvicellularis (VPMpc), of the thalamus. The other pathway projects into areas of the limbic forebrain involved in food and water regulation, reinforcement, reward, and stress, including the lateral hypothalamus (LH), the central nucleus ofthe amygdala (CeA), and the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BST). These areas and the IC are interconnected and send descending projections back to both the PbN and NST...

Lundy RF, Norgren R. 2004. Activity in the hypothalamus, amygdala, and cortex generates bilateral and convergent modulation of pontine gustatory neurons. J Neurophysiol 91 1143-1157. 

Yamamoto T, Matsuo R, Ichikawa H, Wakisaka S, Akai M, et al. 1990. Aversive taste stimuli increase CGRP levels in the gustatory insular cortex of the rat. Neurosci Lett 112 167-172. 

Shipley, M.T. and Geinisman, Y. (1984) Anatomical evidence for convergence of olfactory, gustatory, and visceral afferent pathways in mouse cerebral cortex. Brain Res. Bull., 12, 221-226. 

The insula, which lies between the temporal and parietal cortex, plays a major role in addiction. Neuronal action potentials from autonomic physiological events play a major role in emotions. Walter Cannon proposed in his book The Wisdom of the Body that the autonomic nervous system brings emotions to consciousness. The anterior insula collects olfactory, gustatory, vicero-autonomic, and limbic data, whereas the posterior insula is involved with auditory, somesthetic, and skeletomotor functions. fMRI indicates that the insula plays a major role in the experience of pain, anger, fear, disgust, happiness, and sadness. 

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