Casanova Christian, Chalupa Leo M
School of Optometry, University of Montreal, Montreal, QC, Canada.
School of Medicine and Health Sciences, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, United States.
Front Neurosci. 2023 Aug 30;17:1258393. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2023.1258393. eCollection 2023.
In most neuroscience textbooks, the thalamus is presented as a structure that relays sensory signals from visual, auditory, somatosensory, and gustatory receptors to the cerebral cortex. But the function of the thalamic nuclei goes beyond the simple transfer of information. This is especially true for the second-order nuclei, but also applies to first-order nuclei. First order thalamic nuclei receive information from the periphery, like the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus (dLGN), which receives a direct input from the retina. In contrast, second order thalamic nuclei, like the pulvinar, receive minor or no input from the periphery, with the bulk of their input derived from cortical areas. The dLGN refines the information received from the retina by temporal decorrelation, thereby transmitting the most "relevant" signals to the visual cortex. The pulvinar is closely linked to virtually all visual cortical areas, and there is growing evidence that it is necessary for normal cortical processing and for aspects of visual cognition. In this article, we will discuss what we know and do not know about these structures and propose some thoughts based on the knowledge gained during the course of our careers. We hope that these thoughts will arouse curiosity about the visual thalamus and its important role, especially for the next generation of neuroscientists.
在大多数神经科学教科书中，丘脑被描述为一种将视觉、听觉、躯体感觉和味觉感受器的感觉信号传递到大脑皮层的结构。但丘脑核的功能远不止于简单的信息传递。对于二级核尤其如此，对于一级核也适用。一级丘脑核从外周接收信息，比如背外侧膝状体核（dLGN），它直接从视网膜接收输入。相比之下，二级丘脑核，如丘脑枕，从外周接收的输入很少或没有，其大部分输入来自皮层区域。背外侧膝状体核通过时间去相关来优化从视网膜接收的信息，从而将最“相关”的信号传递到视觉皮层。丘脑枕与几乎所有视觉皮层区域都紧密相连，并且越来越多的证据表明，它对于正常的皮层处理和视觉认知的各个方面都是必要的。在本文中，我们将讨论我们对这些结构已知和未知的内容，并基于我们职业生涯中获得的知识提出一些想法。我们希望这些想法能激发人们对视觉丘脑及其重要作用的好奇心，尤其是对下一代神经科学家而言。
