Browne B, Simmons R M
J Hirnforsch. 1984;25(3):261-74.
A quantitative study of the thalamus and metathalamus has been carried out on brains of six different primate species. The allometric formula devised by Stephan, Bauchot and Andy (1970) has been slightly modified as two steps have been utilized in order to attain the required magnification of the final photomicrograph (a positive print, as opposed to Stephan et al's negative print). The thalamic and metathalamic structures are divided on the basis of their developmental stages into two groups--paleothalamus and neothalamus, so that their proportions to each other in primate phylogeny can be estimated. The results show that the neothalamus extends the paleothalamus by two-thirds (2/3rds) in Tupaia and by more than three-quarters (3/4ths) in Cercopithecus. Of all the thalamic groups, the dorsolateral thalamic nuclear group is most dominant in all primate species, except Tupaia, where the ventrolateral thalamic nuclei are larger than all other nuclei. The pulvinar is the most dominant nucleus in all species except Tupaia. These quantitative results conform, in most places, with the observations of other researchers, while they do not agree much with the qualitative observations of the thalamus in the same species (Simmons 1974). How this study has a bearing on the phylogenetic positions of the Tupaioidea and the Tarsioidea in the Primate Order, is briefly discussed.
对六个不同灵长类物种的大脑进行了丘脑和后丘脑的定量研究。斯蒂芬、鲍肖和安迪（1970年）设计的异速生长公式已略有修改，因为为了获得最终显微照片所需的放大倍数（与斯蒂芬等人的负片相反，是正片）采用了两个步骤。丘脑和后丘脑结构根据其发育阶段分为两组——古丘脑和新丘脑，以便能够估计它们在灵长类系统发育中的相互比例。结果表明，在树鼩中，新丘脑比古丘脑扩展了三分之二（2/3），在猕猴中则扩展了四分之三（3/4）以上。在所有丘脑组中，背外侧丘脑核群在所有灵长类物种中最为占主导地位，但树鼩除外，在树鼩中腹外侧丘脑核比所有其他核都大。在除树鼩外的所有物种中，丘脑枕是最占主导地位的核。这些定量结果在大多数方面与其他研究人员的观察结果一致，而与同一物种丘脑的定性观察结果（西蒙斯，1974年）不太相符。本文简要讨论了这项研究如何与树鼩超科和跗猴型下目在灵长目动物中的系统发育位置相关。
