Gustatory afferents to ventral forebrain

The pontine taste area (PTA) receives afferents from the gustatory zone of the nucleus of the solitary tract, and projects bilaterally to the thalamic taste area. Lesions of PTA also result in degenerating axons entering the substantia innominata in the ventral forebrain. The technique of antidromic activation has been used to demonstrate that pontine neurons which respond to gustatory stimuli send collaterals to both the thalamic taste area and substantia innominata. This establishes that, like olfactory input, gustatory information reaches the ventral telencephalon without first synapsing in the diencephalon.