Nerve fibers transmitting information from the thalamus to the cerebral cortex may be classified according to their major cortical layers of termination. (i) One class consists of inputs from thalamic relay nuclei for vision, audition, and somesthesis to layer IV, layer III, or both. In contrast, autoradiographic studies of projections from other thalamic nuclei reveal strikingly different patt...

OBJECTIVES : A novel evaluative approach was used to determine single unit activities of non-bursting intralaminar thalamic nuclei under neuropathic pain state following dorsal rhizotomy. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: Extensive dorsal rhizotomy at cervicothoracic level in rats was used as a model of central pain. After rhizotomy, rats were divided into two groups: rats without any signs of self-mutilati...

Sonic hedgehog (Shh) signaling is essential for thalamic development. The Gli transcription factors act downstream of Shh - while Gli2 is the major activator (GliA), Gli3 acts primarily as a repressor (GliR). The thalamus is remarkable among dorsal structures because of its proximity to the mid-diencephalic organizer, a unique dorsal Shh source. This lends complexity to the interactions between...

Spatial attention modulates signal processing within visual nuclei of the thalamus--but do other nuclei govern the locus of attention in top-down mode? We examined functional MRI (fMRI) data from three subjects performing a task requiring covert attention to 1 of 16 positions in a circular array. Target position was cued after stimulus offset, requiring subjects to perform target detection from...

16 17 Spatial attention modulates signal processing within visual nuclei of the thalamus but do other 18 nuclei govern the locus of attention in top-down mode? We examined fMRI data from three 19 subjects performing a task requiring covert attention to one of sixteen positions in a circular 20 array. Target position was cued after stimulus offset, requiring subjects to perform target 21 detecti...

A 42-year-old man presented with akinetic mutism, caused by bilateral thalamic infarction, resulting in a temporary amnesic syndrome and, finally, selective downgaze palsy. Electroencephalographic recording in the initial phase showed generalized spike- and-wave discharges, similar to those found in animal studies after lesion or stimulation of specific thalamic nuclei. Analysis of magnetic res...

Anatomical investigations have revealed connections between the intralaminar thalamic nuclei and areas such as the superior colliculus (SC) that receive short latency input from visual and auditory primary sensory areas. The intralaminar nuclei in turn project to the major input nucleus of the basal ganglia, the striatum, providing this nucleus with a source of subcortical excitatory input. Tog...

Recent evidence has suggested that thalamic amnesia results from damage to the intralaminar nuclei, an important source of input to striatum. To test the hypothesis that intralaminar damage disrupts functions mediated by striatum, we studied the effects of striatal lesions on a delayed matching task known to be affected by intralaminar lesions. Rats were trained to perform the task and given on...