Herkenham M
Science. 1980 Feb 1;207(4430):532-5. doi: 10.1126/science.7352263.
Nerve fibers transmitting information from the thalamus to the cerebral cortex may be classified according to their major cortical layers of termination. (i) One class consists of inputs from thalamic relay nuclei for vision, audition, and somesthesis to layer IV, layer III, or both. In contrast, autoradiographic studies of projections from other thalamic nuclei reveal strikingly different patterns of termination: (ii) layer VI (or layer V, or both) is the target of fibers from the intralaminar nuclei, and (iii) layer I is the target for fibers from the ventromedial and magnocellular medial geniculate nuclei. (iv) The remaining class is typified by termination both in layer I and in additional layers that depend on the cortical area in which the terminations are found. The data demonstrate that convergent thalamic inputs to a given cortical area are usually not confluent within a layer and provide a new frame-work for categorizing thalamic nuclei.
从丘脑向大脑皮层传递信息的神经纤维可根据其主要的皮层终末层进行分类。（i）一类是来自丘脑视觉、听觉和躯体感觉中继核的输入纤维，它们终止于第IV层、第III层或这两层。相比之下，对其他丘脑核团投射的放射自显影研究显示出截然不同的终末模式：（ii）第VI层（或第V层，或两者）是来自板内核纤维的靶点，（iii）第I层是来自腹内侧和大细胞内侧膝状体核纤维的靶点。（iv）其余类别以在第I层和其他取决于终末所在皮层区域的层中均有终末为特征。这些数据表明，汇聚到给定皮层区域的丘脑输入通常不在一层内融合，为丘脑核团的分类提供了一个新的框架。
