The specification of the intricate neuronal assemblies that characterize the forebrain is not well understood. The ventral spinal cord is specified through a concentration gradient of Sonic hedgehog (Shh) protein secreted by the notochord. Shh is expressed also in the forebrain neuroepithelium (neural Shh) and the underlying notochord and prechordal plate. Neural Shh is essential for the develo...

Organization of the zebra finch song control system: II. Functional organization of outputs from nucleus robustus archistriatalis. The avian homologues of the mammalian intralaminar, mediodorsal and midline thalamic nuclei: immunohistochemical and hodological evidence. Evidence for a possible avian dorsal thalamic region comparable to the mammalian ventral anterior, ventral lateral, and oral ve...

In spite of the acknowledged role that the thalamus plays in declarative memory, details about the precise memory processes it is involved in and which are the structures of the thalamus that contribute to these processes remain unknown. An overview is presented of human clinical and animal experimental findings showing the involvement of the thalamus, at the level of white matter tracts and se...

Neurons of the intralaminar thalamus, including central lateral (CL) and parafascicular (Pf) nuclei, innervate the cortex and striatum and are important for cognitive, sensory, and motor processes. We tested the hypothesis that CL and Pf neurons provide functionally distinct inputs to the striatum. We performed recordings of single CL and Pf neurons in anesthetized rats and, after juxtacellular...

In a patient with a unilateral embolic infarct in the left posterior thalamo-subthalamic paramedian artery territory, neuropathological studies showed involvement of the intralaminar, dorsomedial, and internal part of the ventral posterior nuclei of the thalamus, of the rostral part of the mesencephalic reticular formation, and of the posterior commissure. The patient showed upgaze palsy for vo...

Projections from the posterior thalamus and medial geniculate body were labeled retrogradely with wheat germ agglutinin conjugated to horseradish peroxidase injected into the rat, cat, and squirrel monkey inferior colliculus. Neurons were found ipsilaterally in the (1) medial division of the medial geniculate body, (2) central gray, (3) posterior limitans nucleus, and the (4) reticular part of ...

Precise neurosurgical targeting of electrode arrays within the brain is essential to the successful treatment of a range of brain disorders with deep brain stimulation (DBS) therapy. Here, we describe a set of computational tools to generate in vivo, subject-specific atlases of individual thalamic nuclei thus improving the ability to visualize thalamic targets for preclinical DBS applications o...

Voltage-sensitive dye imaging of mouse thalamocortical slices demonstrated that electrical stimulation of the centrolateral intralaminar thalamic nucleus (CL) resulted in the specific activation of thalamic reticular nucleus, striatum/putamen, and cortical layers 5, 6, and 1. By contrast, ventrobasal (VB) thalamic stimulation, while activating the reticular and basal ganglia nuclei, also activa...