Kolmac C I, Power B D, Mitrofanis J
Institute for Biomedical Research, Department of Anatomy & Histology, University of Sydney, Australia.
J Neurocytol. 2000 Jan;29(1):31-41. doi: 10.1023/a:1007160029506.
In order to understand better the organisation of the ventral lateral geniculate nucleus of the ventral thalamus, this paper has examined the patterns of connections that this nucleus has with various nuclei of the dorsal thalamus in rats. Injections of biotinylated dextran or cholera toxin subunit B were made into the parafascicular, central lateral, posterior thalamic, medial dorsal, lateral dorsal, lateral posterior, dorsal lateral geniculate, anterior, ventral lateral, ventrobasal and medial geniculate nuclei of Sprague-Dawley rats and their brains were processed using standard tracer detection methods. Three general patterns of ventral lateral geniculate connectivity were seen. First, the parafascicular, central lateral, medial dorsal, posterior thalamic and lateral dorsal nuclei had heavy connections with the parvocellular (internal) lamina of the ventral lateral geniculate nucleus. This geniculate lamina has been shown previously to receive heavy inputs from many functionally diverse brainstem nuclei. Second, the visually related dorsal lateral geniculate and lateral posterior nuclei had heavy connections with the magnocellular (external) lamina of the ventral lateral geniculate nucleus. This geniculate lamina has been shown by previous studies to receive heavy inputs from the visual cortex and the retina. Finally, the anterior, ventral lateral, ventrobasal and medial geniculate nuclei had very sparse, if any, connections with the ventral lateral geniculate nucleus. Overall, our results strengthen the notion that one can package the ventral lateral geniculate nucleus into distinct visual (magnocellular) and non-visual (parvocellular) components.
为了更好地理解腹侧丘脑腹外侧膝状核的组织结构，本文研究了该核与大鼠背侧丘脑各核之间的连接模式。将生物素化葡聚糖或霍乱毒素B亚基注射到Sprague-Dawley大鼠的束旁核、中央外侧核、丘脑后核、背内侧核、背外侧核、外侧后核、背外侧膝状核、前核、腹外侧核、腹基底核和内侧膝状核中，并使用标准示踪剂检测方法对其大脑进行处理。观察到腹外侧膝状核连接的三种一般模式。首先，束旁核、中央外侧核、背内侧核、丘脑后核和背外侧核与腹外侧膝状核的小细胞（内部）层有大量连接。先前的研究表明，这个膝状层接受来自许多功能多样的脑干核的大量输入。其次，与视觉相关的背外侧膝状核和外侧后核与腹外侧膝状核的大细胞（外部）层有大量连接。先前的研究表明，这个膝状层接受来自视觉皮层和视网膜的大量输入。最后，前核、腹外侧核、腹基底核和内侧膝状核与腹外侧膝状核的连接非常稀疏（如果有连接的话）。总体而言，我们的结果强化了这样一种观念，即可以将腹外侧膝状核分为不同的视觉（大细胞）和非视觉（小细胞）成分。
