Department of Brain and Cognitive Science and the McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
Department of Neurobiology, University of Chicago School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, USA.
Neuron. 2019 Sep 4;103(5):762-770. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2019.06.005.
The role of the thalamus in cortical sensory transmission is well known, but its broader role in cognition is less appreciated. Recent studies have shown thalamic engagement in dynamic regulation of cortical activity in attention, executive control, and perceptual decision-making, but the circuit mechanisms underlying such functionality are unknown. Because the thalamus is composed of excitatory neurons that are devoid of local recurrent excitatory connectivity, delineating long-range, input-output connectivity patterns of single thalamic neurons is critical for building functional models. We discuss this need in relation to existing organizational schemes such as core versus matrix and first-order versus higher-order relay nuclei. We propose that a new classification is needed based on thalamocortical motifs, where structure naturally informs function. Overall, our synthesis puts understanding thalamic organization at the forefront of existing research in systems and computational neuroscience, with both basic and translational applications.
丘脑在皮质感觉传递中的作用是众所周知的，但它在认知中的更广泛作用却鲜为人知。最近的研究表明，丘脑在注意力、执行控制和知觉决策中的皮质活动的动态调节中发挥作用，但这种功能的电路机制尚不清楚。由于丘脑由兴奋性神经元组成，这些神经元缺乏局部的兴奋性连接，因此描绘单个丘脑神经元的长程输入-输出连接模式对于构建功能模型至关重要。我们将讨论这种需求与核心与基质、一级与高级中继核等现有组织方案的关系。我们提出，需要基于丘脑皮质基元进行新的分类，其中结构自然地反映了功能。总的来说，我们的综合研究将理解丘脑组织置于系统和计算神经科学现有研究的前沿，具有基础和转化应用。
