Functional organization of thalamocortical relays

Sherman, S. Murray; Güillery, R. W.

doi:10.1152/jn.1996.76.3.1367

Cited by 711 publications

(565 citation statements)

References 195 publications

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“…These connections, however, are bidirectional (Erickson and Lewis, 2004;McFarland and Haber, 2002;Zikopoulos and Barbas, 2007). Moreover, while cortico-thalamic projections of the specific thalamic relay nuclei follow a general rule of reciprocity, the cortical projections to these thalamic nuclei are more extensive than their projections back to cortex (as seen in other thalamocortical systems) (Darian-Smith et al, 1999;McFarland and Haber, 2002;Sherman and Guillery, 1996). Importantly, in addition to the reciprocal connection, there is a nonreciprocal cortico-thalamic component.…”

Section: Thalamusmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Reward Circuit: Linking Primate Anatomy and Human Imaging

Haber

Knutson

2009

Neuropsychopharmacol

3,175

193

2,859

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Although cells in many brain regions respond to reward, the cortical-basal ganglia circuit is at the heart of the reward system. The key structures in this network are the anterior cingulate cortex, the orbital prefrontal cortex, the ventral striatum, the ventral pallidum, and the midbrain dopamine neurons. In addition, other structures, including the dorsal prefrontal cortex, amygdala, hippocampus, thalamus, and lateral habenular nucleus, and specific brainstem structures such as the pedunculopontine nucleus, and the raphe nucleus, are key components in regulating the reward circuit. Connectivity between these areas forms a complex neural network that mediates different aspects of reward processing. Advances in neuroimaging techniques allow better spatial and temporal resolution. These studies now demonstrate that human functional and structural imaging results map increasingly close to primate anatomy.

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Section: Thalamusmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Reward Circuit: Linking Primate Anatomy and Human Imaging

Haber

Knutson

2009

Neuropsychopharmacol

3,175

193

2,859

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…If visual TRN neurons project back to the LGN neurons from which they receive their inputs (to the neurons representing the same part of the visual field), they would form "closed loop" connections, resulting in feedback inhibition. It has been suggested that during wakefulness, feedback inhibition initiates a rhythmic burst firing in LGN relay neurons, which may serve to alert visual cortex of behaviorally relevant sensory input (Crick, 1984;Sherman and Guillery, 1996) and facilitate signal transmission during visual target acquisition and early phases of fixation (Guido and Weyand, 1995; also see Ramcharan et al, 2000). The predominant increase in visual TRN activity that we have shown would be consistent with this view, because this increase in activity would be passed to the LGN as an increase in inhibition, resulting in the hyperpolarization of the LGN membrane and the consequent switching of these visual thalamic relay neurons from tonic to burst mode (Llinas and Jahnsen, 1982;Jahnsen and Llinas, 1984a,b;Sherman and Koch, 1986).…”

Section: Trn Modulation With Attentionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Attentional Modulation of Thalamic Reticular Neurons

McAlonan

Cavanaugh²,

Wurtz³

2006

J. Neurosci.

231

156

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The major pathway for visual information reaching cerebral cortex is through the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) of the thalamus. Acting on this vital relay is another thalamic nucleus, the thalamic reticular nucleus (TRN). This nucleus receives topographically organized collaterals from both thalamus and cortex and sends similarly organized projections back to thalamus. The inputs to the TRN are excitatory, but the output back to the thalamic relay is inhibitory, providing an ideal organization for modulating visual activity during early processing. This functional architecture led Crick in 1984 to hypothesize that TRN serves to direct a searchlight of attention to different regions of the topographic map; however, despite the substantial influence of this hypothesis, the activity of TRN neurons has never been determined during an attention task. We have determined the nature of the response of visual TRN neurons in awake monkeys, and the modulation of that response as the monkeys shifted attention between visual and auditory stimuli. Visual TRN neurons had a strong (194 spikes/s) and fast (25 ms latency) transient increase of activity to spots of light falling in their receptive fields, as well as high background firing rate (45 spikes/s). When attention shifted to the spots of light, the amplitude of the transient visual response typically increased, whereas other neuronal response characteristics remained unchanged. Thus, as predicted previously, TRN activity is modified by shifts of visual attention, and these attentional changes could influence visual processing in LGN via the inhibitory connections back to the thalamus.

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“…First, by feedback inhibition, they can control the cell's excitability. Second, by lateral inhibition, they can control the cell's receptive field properties (for reviews, see Pinault 2004;Sherman and Guillery 1996).…”

Section: Impact Of Trn Activity On the Receptive Fields Of Mg Cellsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tonotopic Control of Auditory Thalamus Frequency Tuning by Reticular Thalamic Neurons

Cotillon-Williams¹,

Huetz²,

Hennevin³

et al. 2008

Journal of Neurophysiology

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Cotillon-Williams N, Huetz C, Hennevin E, Edeline J-M. Tonotopic control of auditory thalamus frequency tuning by reticular thalamic neurons. J Neurophysiol 99: 1137-1151, 2008. First published December 26, 2007 doi:10.1152/jn.01159.2007. GABAergic cells of the thalamic reticular nucleus (TRN) can potentially exert strong control over transmission of information through thalamus to the cerebral cortex. Anatomical studies have shown that the reticulothalamic connections are spatially organized in the visual, somatosensory, and auditory systems. However, the issue of how inhibitory input from TRN controls the functional properties of thalamic relay cells and whether this control follows topographic rules remains largely unknown. Here we assessed the consequences of increasing or decreasing the activity of small ensembles of TRN neurons on the receptive field properties of medial geniculate (MG) neurons. For each MG cell, the frequency tuning curve and the rate-level function were tested before, during, and after microiontophoretic applications of GABA, or of glutamate, in the auditory sector of the TRN. For 66 MG cells tested during potent pharmacological control of TRN activity, group data did not reveal any significant effects. However, for a population of 20/66 cells (all but 1 recorded in the ventral, tonotopic, division), the breadth of tuning, the frequency selectivity and the acoustic threshold were significantly modified in the directions expected from removing, or reinforcing, a dominant inhibitory input onto MG cells. Such effects occurred only when the distance between the characteristic frequency of the recorded ventral MG cell and that of the TRN cells at the ejection site was Ͻ0.25 octaves; they never occurred for larger distances. This relationship indicates that the functional interactions between TRN cells and ventral MG cells rely on precise topographic connections. I N T R O D U C T I O NThe thalamus is often considered as a "gate" for the transfer of information to neocortex. Understanding the key factors controlling this gate has been the subject of intense research, but several points remain unresolved. The reticular nucleus of the thalamus (TRN) has a key anatomical position and chemical composition to modulate thalamocortical activity. It receives inputs from both thalamus and cortex and sends outputs back to the thalamus (Jones 1975). Exclusively composed of GABAergic neurons (Arcelli et al. 1997; Benson et al. 1991;Houser et al. 1980), it is a major source of inhibition for all thalamic nuclei . In some species and for some sensory modalities, it is the quasi-exclusive source of inhibition in the thalamus, whereas in others it shares this role with local inhibitory interneurons (reviewed in Jones 1985; Sherman and Guillery 2001). The lateral geniculate nucleus possesses around 20% of inhibitory interneurons in all species (Barbaresi et al. 1986; Benson et al. 1992). The somatosensory thalamus and the auditory thalamus possess 20 -25% of inhibitory interneurons in primate and cat (Benson e...

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Functional organization of thalamocortical relays

Cited by 711 publications

References 195 publications

The Reward Circuit: Linking Primate Anatomy and Human Imaging

The Reward Circuit: Linking Primate Anatomy and Human Imaging

Attentional Modulation of Thalamic Reticular Neurons

Tonotopic Control of Auditory Thalamus Frequency Tuning by Reticular Thalamic Neurons

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