Zikopoulos Basilis, Barbas Helen
Department of Health Sciences, Boston University, MA 02215, USA.
Rev Neurosci. 2007;18(6):417-38. doi: 10.1515/revneuro.2007.18.6.417.
Converging evidence from anatomic and physiological studies suggests that the interaction of high-order association cortices with the thalamus is necessary to focus attention on a task in a complex environment with multiple distractions. Interposed between the thalamus and cortex, the inhibitory thalamic reticular nucleus intercepts and regulates communication between the two structures. Recent findings demonstrate that a unique circuitry links the prefrontal cortex with the reticular nucleus and may underlie the process of selective attention to enhance salient stimuli and suppress irrelevant stimuli in behavior. Unlike other cortices, some prefrontal areas issue widespread projections to the reticular nucleus, extending beyond the frontal sector to the sensory sectors of the nucleus, and may influence the flow of sensory information from the thalamus to the cortex. Unlike other thalamic nuclei, the mediodorsal nucleus, which is the principal thalamic nucleus for the prefrontal cortex, has similarly widespread connections with the reticular nucleus. Unlike sensory association cortices, some terminations from prefrontal areas to the reticular nucleus are large, suggesting efficient transfer of information. We propose a model showing that the specialized features of prefrontal pathways in the reticular nucleus may allow selection of relevant information and override distractors, in processes that are deranged in schizophrenia.
来自解剖学和生理学研究的越来越多的证据表明，在存在多种干扰因素的复杂环境中，高阶联合皮层与丘脑之间的相互作用对于将注意力集中于一项任务是必要的。丘脑网状核介于丘脑和皮层之间，它拦截并调节这两个结构之间的通信。最近的研究结果表明，一种独特的神经回路将前额叶皮层与网状核连接起来，这可能是选择性注意过程的基础，该过程可增强行为中显著的刺激并抑制无关刺激。与其他皮层不同，一些前额叶区域向网状核发出广泛的投射，延伸到额叶以外的核的感觉区域，并可能影响从丘脑到皮层的感觉信息流。与其他丘脑核不同，作为前额叶皮层主要丘脑核的背内侧核与网状核也有类似的广泛连接。与感觉联合皮层不同，前额叶区域到网状核的一些终末较大，这表明信息传递效率较高。我们提出了一个模型，该模型表明网状核中前额叶通路的特殊特征可能允许在精神分裂症中紊乱的过程中选择相关信息并克服干扰因素。
