Introduction Essential tremor can be treated by thalamic stimulation or ablation of the ventral intermediate nucleus (VIM) with good outcomes [1]. Routine MRI cannot distinguish between thalamic nuclei so targeting is based on anatomic atlas-based coordinates. Diffusion MRI-based track density imaging (TDI) can better depict internal thalamic structure [2], but previously has required high-fiel...

Retinofugal pathways in fetal and adult spiny dogfish were determined by intraocular injection of [3H]proline for autoradiography. Distribution and termination of the primary retinal efferents were identical in pups and adults. The retinal fibers decussate completely, except for a sparse ipsilateral projection to the caudal preoptic area. The decussating optic fibers terminate ventrally in the ...

Clinical evidence suggests that nicotine reduces anxiety in stressful situations. In the present study, we investigated the effect of nicotine on restraint-enhanced anxiety-like behavior, c-Fos expression, an index of neuronal activation in the brain, and plasma corticosterone. Two-hour restraint stress-enhanced anxiety-like behavior in the elevated plus-maze (EPM) and nicotine hydrogen tartrat...

The G protein-coupled receptor Mas was recently described as an angiotensin-(1-7) [ANG-(1-7)] receptor. In the present study we evaluated the anatomical localization of Mas using immunofluorescence in the central nervous system of adult male Wistar rats. An abundant labeling was found in the hippocampus, amigdala, anterodorsal thalamic nucleus, cortex, and hypoglossal nucleus. More importantly,...

Thalamic neurons have an exclusive property named bursting response. Bursting response seems to have a critical role in producing saliency map and encoding conspicuity of locations during visual attention. Attention window is developed in thalamus due to its retinotopic organization. The global competitive network in thalamic reticular nucleus (NRT) determines which thalamic cells should produc...

GPR151 is a G-protein coupled receptor for which the endogenous ligand remains unknown. In the nervous system of vertebrates, its expression is enriched in specific diencephalic structures, where the highest levels are observed in the habenular area. The habenula has been implicated in a range of different functions including behavioral flexibility, decision making, inhibitory control, and pain...

The thalamus consists of multiple nuclei that have been previously defined by their chemoarchitectual and cytoarchitectual properties ex vivo. These form discrete, functionally specialized, territories with topographically arranged graduated patterns of connectivity. However, previous in vivo thalamic parcellation with MRI has been hindered by substantial inter-individual variability or discrep...

The gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)-containing neurons of the thalamic reticular nucleus (nRt) are a major source of inhibitory innervation in dorsal thalamic nuclei. Individual nRt neurons were intracellularly recorded and labelled in an in vitro rat thalamic slice preparation to investigate their projection into ventrobasal thalamic nuclei (VB). Camera lucida reconstructions of 37 neurons indi...

BACKGROUND Auditory gating is thought to reflect sensory information processing and is absent or diminished in schizophrenic patients. Although abnormal thalamic sensory processing has been proposed in schizophrenia, sensory gating of thalamic neurons has not been demonstrated experimentally. The aim of the present study was to establish whether auditory gating is present in the rat thalamus us...