Asanuma H, Larsen K D, Yumiya H
Brain Res. 1979 Aug 24;172(2):217-28. doi: 10.1016/0006-8993(79)90534-1.
The locations and receptive fields of thalamic neurons projecting to the motor cortex were examined and the following results were obtained. (1) Neurons located at the border area between nucleus ventralis lateralis (VL) and nucleus ventralis posterolateralis (VPL) could be activated antidromically from the motor cortex. (2) These neurons received topographically organized somesthetic inputs arising from skin and deep receptors. (3) The receptive fields of neurons in the small area of the motor cortex where these thalamic neurons projected could be examined in 8 instances. In 6 instances, the cortical neurons and the thalamic projection neurons were activated by exactly the same stimuli in the periphery. (4) Removal of the sensory cortex did not significantly change the characteristics of afferent inputs from the periphery to the motor cortex. (5) It is concluded that the motor cortex receives somesthetic inputs directly from the thalamus. The functional role of these inputs was discussed in relation to the known cortical reflexes.
研究了投射至运动皮层的丘脑神经元的位置及感受野，并获得了以下结果。（1）位于腹外侧核（VL）与后外侧腹核（VPL）之间边界区域的神经元可被运动皮层逆向激活。（2）这些神经元接受来自皮肤和深部感受器的按拓扑结构组织的躯体感觉输入。（3）在8个实例中可检测这些丘脑神经元所投射的运动皮层小区域内神经元的感受野。在6个实例中，皮层神经元和丘脑投射神经元在外周被完全相同的刺激激活。（4）去除感觉皮层并未显著改变从外周至运动皮层的传入输入特征。（5）得出结论，运动皮层直接从丘脑接受躯体感觉输入。结合已知的皮层反射对这些输入的功能作用进行了讨论。
