The functional role of the mediodorsal thalamic nucleus (MD) and its cortical network in memory processes is discussed controversially. While Aggleton and Brown (1999) suggested a role for recognition and not recall, Van der Werf et al. (2003) suggested that this nucleus is functionally related to executive function and strategic retrieval, based on its connections to the prefrontal cortices (P...

Prior studies in our laboratory demonstrated that part of the thalamus is necessary for activating the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) axis in response to audiogenic stress in rats. The present studies were designed to determine how the auditory-responsive thalamic nuclei might activate the HPA axis. Both retrograde [Fluoro-Gold (FG)] and anterograde [Phasoleus vulgaris-leucoagglutin...

OBJECTIVE To improve current understanding of the mechanisms behind thalamic amnesia, as it is unclear whether it is directly related to damage to specific nuclei, in particular to the anterior or mediodorsal nuclei, or indirectly related to lesions of the mammillothalamic tract (MTT). METHODS We recruited 12 patients with a left thalamic infarction and 25 healthy matched controls. All underw...

Several subregions in the limbic thalamus have been suggested as the key locus for diencephalic amnesia, including the anterior thalamic nuclei, intralaminar nuclei and mediodorsal nuclei. There is, however, no consensus as to a single critical site and recent research has suggested instead that different thalamic areas may contribute to diencephalic amnesia in subtly different ways. This study...

A disinhibition syndrome affecting speech (with logorrhoea, delirium, jokes, laughs, inappropriate comments, extraordinary confabulations), was the main manifestation of a right-sided thalamic infarct involving the dorsomedian nucleus, intralaminar nuclei and medial part of the ventral lateral nucleus. Resolution of conflicting tasks was severely impaired, suggesting frontal lobe dysfunction. T...

IN 1942, Dempsey and Morison (4-6, 24) discovered in cats a thalamic system which upon direct repetitive stimulation evoked recruiting wave responses in broad areas of the cortex. Evidence was presented that the physiological counterpart of this response to stimulation was burst or spindle activity recorded from the cortex of cats under surgical barbiturate anesthesia. Interest in the mechanism...

Opioidergic inhibition of neurons in the centrolateral nucleus of the thalamus was investigated using an in vitro thalamic slice preparation from young rats. The mu-opioid receptor agonist D-Ala2,N-Me-Phe4,glycinol5-enkephalin (DAMGO) evoked a hyperpolarization and decrease in input resistance that was reversible, concentration-dependent, and persisted in the presence of tetrodotoxin. Applicati...

The synchronization of fast (mainly 30 to 40 Hz) oscillations in intrathalamic and thalamocortical (TC) networks of cat was studied under ketamine-xylazine anesthesia and in behaving animals by means of field potential, extra- and intracellular recordings from multiple sites in the thalamic reticular (RE) nucleus, dorsal (sensory, motor, and intralaminar) thalamic nuclei, and related neocortica...