Ahlsén G, Lindström S, Lo F S
Exp Brain Res. 1982;46(1):118-26. doi: 10.1007/BF00238105.
Two types of neurons can be recognized in the region above the lateral geniculate nucleus. One cell type is found in the caudal part of the reticular nucleus of thalamus; these cells are accordingly called reticular neurons. The other cell type is located in the perigeniculate nucleus immediately above lamina A of the lateral geniculate nucleus and in the intermediate zone between the perigeniculate nucleus and the reticular nucleus. These cells are referred to as perigeniculate neurons. Electrical stimulation of the optic tract and the visual cortex typically evokes a short burst of spikes in the perigeniculate neurons, and the excitation has a shorter latency from the cortex (range 1.2-2.5 ms) than from the optic tract (range 1.5-3.1 ms). The perigeniculate neurons are also activated by adequate visual stimuli. In contrast, the reticular neurons are unresponsive to visual stimuli and electrical stimulation of the optic tract but they may respond with a burst of spikes to cortex stimulation with rather long latency (range 2.7-5.5 ms). It is concluded that only perigeniculate neurons qualify as interneurons in the recurrent inhibitory pathway to principal cells in the lateral geniculate nucleus.
在外侧膝状核上方区域可识别出两种类型的神经元。一种细胞类型见于丘脑网状核的尾部；因此这些细胞被称为网状神经元。另一种细胞类型位于外侧膝状核A层正上方的膝周核以及膝周核与网状核之间的中间区域。这些细胞被称为膝周神经元。对视束和视觉皮层进行电刺激通常会在膝周神经元中诱发一阵短暂的尖峰脉冲，并且来自皮层的兴奋潜伏期（范围为1.2 - 2.5毫秒）比来自视束的潜伏期（范围为1.5 - 3.1毫秒）更短。膝周神经元也会被适当的视觉刺激激活。相比之下，网状神经元对视束的视觉刺激和电刺激无反应，但它们可能会对皮层刺激以较长潜伏期（范围为2.7 - 5.5毫秒）的一阵尖峰脉冲做出反应。得出的结论是，只有膝周神经元可作为外侧膝状核中向主细胞的反馈抑制通路中的中间神经元。
