The neural connectivity of the intralaminar thalamic nuclei in the human brain: A diffusion tensor tractography study

• Published in: Neuroscience letters Vol. 579; pp. 140 - 144
• Main Authors: Jang, Sung Ho, Lim, Hyoung Won, Yeo, Sang Seok
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ireland Elsevier Ireland Ltd 05.09.2014
• Subjects: Adult; Arousal - physiology; Ascending reticular activating system; Attention - physiology; Diffusion tensor imaging; Diffusion Tensor Imaging - methods; Female; Humans; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; Intralaminar nuclei; Intralaminar Thalamic Nuclei - anatomy & histology; Male; Middle Aged; Movement - physiology; Neural connectivity; Neural Pathways - anatomy & histology; Sensation - physiology; Thalamus; Young Adult; Thalamus; Ascending reticular activating system; Intralaminar nuclei; Neural connectivity; Diffusion tensor imaging
• ISSN: 0304-3940; 1872-7972; 1872-7972
• DOI: 10.1016/j.neulet.2014.07.024

•We found high connectivity between intralaminar nucleus and arousal-related areas.•Intralaminar nucleus showed high connectivity with brain areas for the attention.•Intralaminar nucleus showed high connectivity with sensorimotor area. Research on the neural connectivity of the intralaminar thalamic nuclei (ILN) has been limited. Since the introduction of diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), many probabilistic DTI studies have reported on neural connectivity of neural structures in normal subjects. However, no study on the neural connectivity of the ILN has been reported so far. In this study, using probabilistic DTI, we investigated the neural connectivity of the ILN in normal subjects. A total of 40 healthy subjects were recruited for this study. A seed region of interest was placed on the ILN of the thalamus using the FMRIB Software Library. Connectivity was defined as the incidence of connection between the ILN and target brain areas. We found high connectivity between the ILN and arousal-related areas (prefrontal cortex 100%, reticular formation 100%, pedunculopontine nucleus 97.5%, basal forebrain 95%, and hypothalamus 92.5% at threshold 5), attention related area (prefrontal cortex 100% at threshold 5), and sensori-motor function related areas (primary motor cortex 100%, globus pallidus 100%, putamen 98.8%, premotor cortex 96.3%, primary somatosensory cortex 95.0%, caudate nucleus 92.5%, and posterior parietal cortex 90.0% at threshold 5). Findings of this study showed that ILN has high connectivity with brain areas related to arousal, attention, and sensorimotor function. This result indicates a close association of ILN with these functions in the human brain.