Colliculogeniculate

Some of the cells of the inferior colliculi send commissural fibers to the opposite colliculus; others send colliculogeniculate fibers (inferior brachium) to the medial geniculate body of the thalamus; some to the superior colliculus (acustico-optic fibers) and some to the cerebellum (tectocerebellar fibers).

These may correspond to the thin colliculogeniculate endings previously described in the cat ventral nucleus (Morest 1975: Fig. 7, top) and, perhaps, to the phalangiform axons seen in the dorsal division (W iner and Morest 1984).

These data suggest that at birth the colliculogeniculate projection is more mature than the corticogeniculate projection but less developed than the retinogeniculate pathway.