Kamali Arash, Karbasian Niloofar, Ghazi Sherbaf Farzaneh, Wilken Lindsay A, Aein Azin, Sair Haris I, Arevalo Espejo Octavio, Rabiei Pejman, Choi Sally J, Mirbagheri Saeedeh, Riascos Roy F, Hasan Khader M
Department of Diagnostic Radiology, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX, USA.
Department of Internal Medicine, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX, USA.
Neuroscience. 2020 Apr 15;432:55-62. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2020.02.021. Epub 2020 Feb 25.
As a non-limbic structure, the human thalamus is the most important modulator of the limbic system. The hypothalamus plays vital roles in the survival of species by regulating fear, learning, feeding behavior, circadian rhythm, sociosexual and reproductive activities of the limbic system through connections with the thalamus. The detailed anatomy of the pathways responsible for mediating these responses, however, is yet to be determined. The mammillothalamic tract is known as the major direct thalamo-hypothalamic connection in the primates including the human brain connecting the ventral thalamus to the dorsal hypothalamus. Multiple dissection animal studies revealed additional connections specially from the dorsal thalamus to the ventral hypothalamic nuclei. Diffusion weighted imaging may be helpful in better visualizing the surgical anatomy of this additional connectivity noninvasively. This study aimed to investigate the utility of high spatial and high angular resolution diffusion weighted tractography technique for mapping the trajectory of this dorsal thalamic connectivity with the ventral hypothalamus in the human brain. We studied 30 healthy human subjects. Using a high-resolution diffusion weighted tractography technique, for the first time, we were able to delineate and reconstruct the trajectory of the dorsal thalamo-hypothalamic tract (DTH). We further revealed the close relationship of the DTH, fornix and hippocampus in healthy adult human brain.
作为一个非边缘系统结构，人类丘脑是边缘系统最重要的调节者。下丘脑通过与丘脑的连接，调节边缘系统的恐惧、学习、进食行为、昼夜节律、社会性行为和生殖活动，在物种生存中发挥着至关重要的作用。然而，介导这些反应的通路的详细解剖结构尚未确定。乳头丘脑束是灵长类动物（包括人类大脑）中已知的主要直接丘脑 - 下丘脑连接，它连接腹侧丘脑和背侧下丘脑。多项解剖动物研究揭示了其他连接，特别是从背侧丘脑到腹侧下丘脑核的连接。扩散加权成像可能有助于以非侵入性方式更好地可视化这种额外连接的手术解剖结构。本研究旨在探讨高空间和高角度分辨率扩散加权纤维束成像技术在绘制人脑中背侧丘脑与腹侧下丘脑连接轨迹方面的效用。我们研究了30名健康人类受试者。使用高分辨率扩散加权纤维束成像技术，我们首次能够描绘并重建背侧丘脑 - 下丘脑束（DTH）的轨迹。我们还进一步揭示了健康成人大脑中DTH、穹窿和海马之间的密切关系。
