Guillery R W, Feig S L, Lozsádi D A
Dept of Anatomy, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine, Madison 53706, USA.
Trends Neurosci. 1998 Jan;21(1):28-32. doi: 10.1016/s0166-2236(97)01157-0.
The thalamic reticular nucleus can be divided into a number of sectors, each concerned with a different function (sight, touch, hearing, movement or 'limbic' functions). Each sector is connected to more than one thalamic nucleus and to more than one cortical area, and each sector has topographically mapped connections with the thalamus and the cortex. We consider the known details of these connections and show: (1) that they are not the same for each sector; (2) that the reticular nucleus serves as a nexus, where several functionally related cortical areas and thalamic nuclei can interact, modifying thalamocortical transmission through the inhibitory connections that go from the reticular cells to thalamic relay cells; and (3) that we need much more detailed information about these highly organized connections before we can understand exactly how the thalamic reticular nucleus might be influencing thalamocortical pathways in attentional mechanisms or in other, as yet undefined, roles.
丘脑网状核可分为多个部分，每个部分都与不同的功能（视觉、触觉、听觉、运动或“边缘系统”功能）相关。每个部分都与不止一个丘脑核团以及不止一个皮质区域相连，并且每个部分与丘脑和皮质都有拓扑映射连接。我们研究了这些连接的已知细节并表明：（1）每个部分的连接并不相同；（2）网状核起到了一个连接点的作用，在这里几个功能相关的皮质区域和丘脑核团可以相互作用，通过从网状细胞到丘脑中继细胞的抑制性连接来改变丘脑皮质传递；（3）在我们能够确切理解丘脑网状核在注意力机制或其他尚未明确的作用中如何影响丘脑皮质通路之前，我们需要关于这些高度组织化连接的更详细信息。
