The human mediodorsal thalamus: Organization, connectivity, and function

Li, Kaixin; Fan, Lingzhong; Cui, Yue; Wei, Xuehu; He, Yini; Yang, Jiyue; Lu, Yue; Li, Wen; Shi, Weiyang; Cao, Long; Cheng, Luqi; Li, Ang; You, Bo; Jiang, Tianzi

doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2022.118876

Cited by 21 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 58 publications

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“…A modest correspondence of the DLPFC between humans and macaques has been demonstrated in terms of both cytoarchitecture (Petrides and Pandya, 1999) and resting-state fMRI connectivity (Sallet et al, 2013). Meanwhile, functional and anatomical knowledge of the MD has been accumulated in macaques, including its subdivisions and their distinct connectivity patterns with the cortex (Baxter, 2013; Mitchell, 2015; Oyama et al, 2021; Phillips et al, 2019), but their relevance and correspondence with the human MD remains largely unestablished, despite recent neuroanatomical study illustrating MD subdivisions and connectivity (Li et al, 2022). The present study thus uniquely provides an invaluable translation of the knowledge of an MD subregion from macaques to humans.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prefronto-subcortical hypoconnectivity in schizophrenia: translation of critical pathways for symptom-related functions in nonhuman primates

Yahata

Hirabayashi

Minamimoto

2023

Preprint

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Recent advances in genetic neuromodulation technology have enabled circuit-specific interventions in nonhuman primates (NHPs), thereby revealing the causal functions of specific neural circuits. Going forward, an important step is to use these findings to better understand neuropsychiatric and neurological disorders in humans, in which alterations in functional connectivity between brain regions are demonstrated. We recently identified the causal roles of the pathways from the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) to the lateral part of the mediodorsal thalamic nucleus (MDl) and dorsal caudate nucleus (dCD) in working memory and decision-making, respectively. In the present study, we examined the resting-state functional connectivity of these two prefronto-subcortical circuits in healthy controls (HCs) and patients with various neuropsychiatric disorders including schizophrenia (SCZ), major depressive disorder (MDD), and autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in humans. We found that the functional connectivity of two pathways, DLPFC-MDl and DLPFC-dCD, was significantly reduced in the SCZ groups compared to HCs; however, this hypoconnectivity was not observed in the ASD or MDD groups, suggesting a disease-specific profile of altered prefronto-subcortical connectivity at rest. These results suggest that causal findings of pathway-specific functions revealed in NHPs can be effectively translated to identify the altered connectivity in neuropsychiatric disorders with related symptoms in humans.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prefronto-subcortical hypoconnectivity in schizophrenia: translation of critical pathways for symptom-related functions in nonhuman primates

Yahata

Hirabayashi

Minamimoto

2023

Preprint

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“…In this study, a non-invasive method was used to subdivide PE regions using probabilistic fiber tracking based on DTI data and combined with a clustering algorithm, which has been widely used in the field of brain region subdivision, such as fine delineation of the nucleus ambiguous, precuneus, and medial thalamic nucleus ( Wang et al, 2019 ; Xia et al, 2019b ; Li et al, 2022 ). This research determined a convergent PE topographic tissue based on the anatomical connection through white matter fiber bundle tracking clustering, including an anterior PE subregion (PE_1) and a dorsal PE subregion (PE_2).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Corresponding anatomical of the macaque superior parietal lobule areas 5 (PE) subdivision reveal similar connectivity patterns with humans

Wang

et al. 2022

Front. Neurosci.

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Using the animal brain as a cross-species tool for human brain research based on imaging features can provide more potential to reveal comprehensive human brain analysis. Previous studies have shown that human Brodmann area 5 (BA5) and macaque PE are homologous regions. They are both involved in processes depth and direction information during the touch process in the arm movement. However, recent studies show that both BA5 and PE are not homogeneous. According to the cytoarchitecture, BA5 is subdivided into three different subregions, and PE can be subdivided into PEl, PEla, and PEm. The species homologous relationship among the subregions is not clear between BA5 and PE. At the same time, the subdivision of PE based on the anatomical connection of white matter fiber bundles needs more verification. This research subdivided the PE of macaques based on the anatomical connection of white matter fiber bundles. Two PE subregions are defined based on probabilistic fiber tracking, one on the anterior side and the other on the dorsal side. Finally, the research draws connectivity fingerprints with predefined homologous target areas for the BA5 and PE subregions to reveal the characteristics of structure and functions and gives the homologous correspondence identified.

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“…Similar to the pulvinar, the mediodorsal thalamus establishes widespread connections across multiple cortical areas. However, rather than being primarily connected to posterior cortical areas, the mediodorsal thalamus is connected to multiple frontal cortical areas (Li and others 2022; Mitchell 2015). Multiple studies have recently examined mediodorsal function in rodents and showed that neurons within this region have nonrelay properties (Bolkan and others 2017; DeNicola and others 2020; Fresno and others 2019; Hsiao and others 2020; Ouhaz and others 2022; Parnaudeau and others 2013; Rikhye and others 2018; Schmitt and others 2017) that might be similar to the pulvinar studies just described.…”

Section: Functional Roles Of the Associative Thalamus In Cognitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Associative Thalamus: A Switchboard for Cortical Operations and a Promising Target for Schizophrenia

Mukherjee

Halassa

2022

Neuroscientist

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Schizophrenia is a brain disorder that profoundly perturbs cognitive processing. Despite the success in treating many of its symptoms, the field lacks effective methods to measure and address its impact on reasoning, inference, and decision making. Prefrontal cortical abnormalities have been well documented in schizophrenia, but additional dysfunction in the interactions between the prefrontal cortex and thalamus have recently been described. This dysfunction may be interpreted in light of parallel advances in neural circuit research based on nonhuman animals, which show critical thalamic roles in maintaining and switching prefrontal activity patterns in various cognitive tasks. Here, we review this basic literature and connect it to emerging innovations in clinical research. We highlight the value of focusing on associative thalamic structures not only to better understand the very nature of cognitive processing but also to leverage these circuits for diagnostic and therapeutic development in schizophrenia. We suggest that the time is right for building close bridges between basic thalamic research and its clinical translation, particularly in the domain of cognition and schizophrenia.

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The human mediodorsal thalamus: Organization, connectivity, and function

Cited by 21 publications

References 58 publications

Prefronto-subcortical hypoconnectivity in schizophrenia: translation of critical pathways for symptom-related functions in nonhuman primates

Prefronto-subcortical hypoconnectivity in schizophrenia: translation of critical pathways for symptom-related functions in nonhuman primates

Corresponding anatomical of the macaque superior parietal lobule areas 5 (PE) subdivision reveal similar connectivity patterns with humans

The Associative Thalamus: A Switchboard for Cortical Operations and a Promising Target for Schizophrenia

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