Ventral Lateral Nucleus Of Thalamus


In the patient group, multiple subcortical areas of significantly reduced FA were observed bihemispherically in close proximity to the primary and associate motor and somatosensory cortices, in the right-hemispheric thalamus (posterior ventral lateral nucleus), in motor projectional fibers and adjacent to the left anterior cingulum.  

We describe a second such patient with infarctions involving the left DM and the right ventral posterior nucleus and ventral lateral nucleus, nuclei adjacent to the DM, associated with transient edema.  

This report focuses on STT input to the ventral lateral nucleus (VL), where prior anterograde tracing studies identified dense or moderately dense STT terminations.  

Based on the analysis of surgical data of Parkinson's disease patients, this might be explained by the lesion of the ventral lateral nucleus, which is supplied by the inferolateral and tuberothalamic arteries.  

The subthalamic nucleus (STN) is part of the cortico-basal ganglia (BG)-thalamocortical circuit, whereas the ventral lateral nucleus of the thalamus (VL) is a relay nucleus in the cerebello-dentato-thalamocortical (CTC) pathway.  

In controls, sequential movements led to the activation of bilateral sensorimotor and premotor cortex, bilateral inferior parietal cortex, supplementary motor area, bilateral putamen and globus pallidus, and the left ventral lateral nucleus of the thalamus.  

Nissl, acetylcholinesterase, cytochrome oxidase, myelin, parvalbumin, calbindin, and Cat 301 preparations allowed the ventral anterior and ventral lateral thalamic regions, parvocellular and magnocellular subdivisions of ventral anterior nucleus, and anterior and posterior subdivisions of ventral lateral nucleus of monkeys to be identified. M1 receives major inputs from the posterior subdivision of ventral lateral nucleus while premotor areas receive major inputs from anterior parts of ventral lateral nucleus (the anterior subdivision of ventral lateral nucleus and the anterior portion of posterior subdivision of ventral lateral nucleus). PMD and SMA have connections with more dorsal parts of the ventral lateral nucleus than PMV.  

The aim of this study was to further assess the properties of this oscillation and compare them with those observed in thalamocortical neurons of three other thalamic nuclei in the cat (ventrobasal complex, medial geniculate body; ventral lateral nucleus) and two thalamic nuclei in rats and mice (lateral geniculate nucleus and ventrobasal complex). In contrast, slow oscillations in cat ventrobasal complex, medial geniculate body and ventral lateral nucleus thalamocortical neurons exhibited such UP states in only 16%, 11% and 10% of cases, respectively, whereas slow oscillations in the lateral geniculate nucleus and ventrobasal complex of rats and mice did so in <12% of cases.  

Thalamic tissue from each subject was grossly dissected into two regions: a dorsomedial region containing limbic-associated dorsomedial, anterior and central medial thalamic nuclei; and a ventral thalamus region that primarily consisted of the ventral lateral nucleus.  

Projections to area 1 were highly convergent from several thalamic nuclei including the ventral lateral nucleus (VL), anterior pulvinar (PA), VPl, and the superior division of the ventral posterior nucleus (VPs).  

Thalamic distribution of label from forelimb injections included ventral portions of the ventral posterior lateral subnucleus (VPL), dorsolateral Po, the ventral lateral nucleus, and the ventral medial nucleus and neighboring intralaminar nuclei..  

In DLB + EPF and PD patients, there was decreased binding in the ventral lateral nucleus.  

In four patients with postoperative MRI who had thalamic MRP, the maximum amplitude or phase reversal occurred at contacts located in the ventral lateral nucleus.  

In the course of mapping the dorsal thalamus, we also studied neurons in a subset of thalamic nuclei (the caudal part of the ventral lateral nucleus (VLc), the oral part of the ventral posterior lateral nucleus (VPLo), the parvocellular part of the ventral anterior nucleus (VApc)) lateral to the MD and just across the internal medullary lamina.  

By defining the boundaries of the thalamic nuclei, they were able to relate effective DBS to electrode location within the anterior region of the ventral posterior lateral nucleus--the proprioceptive shell of the sensory nucleus--and the posteroventral region of the ventral lateral nucleus, which are equivalent to the Vim defined by Hassler, et al..  

Terminations along the ventral aspect of the ventral posterior group extended posterolaterally into the caudal part of the posterior nucleus and anteromedially into the ventromedial part of the ventral lateral nucleus.  

Moreover, together with the lesions seen in the motor cerebellothalamocortical feedback loop (pontine nuclei, deep cerebellar nuclei and cerebellar cortex, ventral lateral nucleus of the thalamus), they also account for the somatomotor deficits that were observed in the young woman (gait, stance, and limb ataxia, falls, and impaired writing).  

We injected horseradish peroxidase (HRP) into the upper lumbar enlargement to label corticospinal tract (CST) neurons and wheat germ agglutinin-conjugated HRP (WGA-HRP) into the ventral lateral nucleus of the thalamus to label corticothalamic tract (CTT) neurons in both 19-day-old yotari and reeler mice with the aim of discovering whether or not they show differences in the distribution pattern of layer V or layer VI neurons.  

The ventral anterior nucleus (VA) and the ventral lateral nucleus pars oralis (VLo) contained a greater density of pallidal labeling while a greater density of cerebellar label was observed more caudally in the ventral posterior lateral nucleus pars oralis (VPLo) as well as in nucleus X (X). However, interdigitating foci of pallidal and cerebellar label were also observed particularly in the ventral lateral nucleus pars oralis (VLo) and the ventral lateral nucleus pars caudalis (VLc).  

In whatever part of the substantia nigra the injection was made, numerous axonal endings were found to be distributed within different thalamic regions: the ventral anterior nucleus and mainly its magnocellular part, the most ventromedial part of the ventral lateral nucleus, and the mediodorsal and parafascicular nuclei.  

We concluded that Hassler's parcelations retained their value, although some adjustments were needed to relate them to the current neuroanatomic data; particularly, the cerebellothalamic zone that represents the monkey ventral lateral nucleus (VL) corresponds topographically to Hassler's Vop, Vim, and most of Voi.  

Surprisingly, area 3a receives the majority of its input from thalamic nuclei associated with the motor system, posterior division of the ventral lateral nucleus of the thalamus (VL), the mediodorsal nucleus (MD), and intralaminar nuclei including the central lateral nucleus (CL) and the centre median nucleus (CM). The indirect input from the cerebellum and basal ganglia via the ventral lateral nucleus of the thalamus supports its role in proprioception.  

Overall, the ERbeta mRNA hybridization signal was relatively low, but the most abundant ERbeta mRNA areas were the hippocampal formation (primarily the subiculum), claustrum, and cerebral cortex; expression was also present in the subthalamic nucleus and thalamus (ventral lateral nucleus).  

Lesion location data demonstrated that the ventral anterior nucleus of the thalamus was always spared; the ventral posterior (lateral and medial) nucleus was always damaged, and the ventral lateral nucleus was frequently damaged.  

This study examined organization of the projection from the dentate nucleus of the cerebellum to the ventral lateral nucleus (VL) of the thalamus in Macaca mulatta.  

To better understand the contribution of cerebellar- and basal ganglia-receiving areas of the thalamus [ ventral posterolateral nucleus, pars oralis (VPLo), area X, ventral lateral nucleus, pars oralis (VLo), or ventral anterior nucleus, pars parvicellularis (VApc)] to movements based on external versus internal cues, we temporarily inactivated these individual nuclei in two monkeys trained to make visually triggered (VT) and internally generated (IG) limb movements.  

The cerebellar nuclei primarily projected to posterior (VLp), medial (VLx), and dorsal (VLd) divisions of the ventral lateral nucleus; the pallidum largely projected to the anterior division (VLa) of the ventral lateral nucleus and the parvocellular part of the ventral anterior nucleus (VApc).  

The proportion of cells in each category was found to vary between each of the cerebellar-receiving [ oral portion of the ventral posterolateral nucleus (VPLo) and area X] and basal-ganglia-receiving [ oral portion of the ventral lateral nucleus (VLo) and parvocellular portion of the ventral anterior nucleus (VApc)] nuclei that were examined.  

Each injection resulted in anterograde labeling in the three subdivisions of the ventral anterior nucleus (pars parvicellularis, VApc; pars densicellularis, VAdc; and pars magnocellularis, VAmc) and in the ventral lateral nucleus (VL).  

We found that the SMA thalamocortical neurons occupied a wide band extending from the ventral anterior nucleus pars principalis (VApc) through the ventral lateral nucleus pars oralis (VLo) and the ventral lateral nucleus pars medialis (VLm) and into to the ventral lateral nucleus pars caudalis (VLc) including a portion of ventral posterior lateral nucleus pars oralis (VPLo) and nucleus X.  

Agranular projections were similar, although they included medial and lateral central nucleus and the ventral lateral nucleus.  

The neurons that project to the FEFsem are distributed in (1) the rostral portion of the ventral lateral nucleus, pars caudalis, (2) the caudal portion of the ventral lateral nucleus, pars caudalis, (3) the mediodorsal nucleus, (4) the ventral anterior nucleus, pars parvocellularis, and (5) the ventral anterior nucleus, pars magnocellularis.  

The distribution of different types of terminals on different portions of single thalamocortical neurons (TCNs) was quantitatively investigated in the cat ventral lateral nucleus (VL) by the application of computer-assisted three-dimensional reconstruction from serial ultrathin sections.  

In the present study, we investigated whether a dorsal thalamic region comparable to the motor part of the mammalian ventral tier (the ventral anterior nucleus, the ventral lateral nucleus, and the oral ventroposterolateral nucleus) exists in pigeon.  

The hyperintense area was confined to the dorsomedial or anterior and dorsomedial nuclei of the thalamus in nine of the 14 patients; it extended from the dorsomedial or anterior and dorsomedial nuclei to the ventral lateral nucleus or pulvinar in the remaining five patients.  

The neuronal loss in the ventral lateral nucleus of the thalamus was predominant on the right side, while in the cerebellum, a quantitative study revealed the contralateral predominance of the neuronal loss in the dentate nuclei and torpedo formation, with preserved Purkinje cells.  

Relationships among cerebellar terminals (CTs), dendrites of thalamocortical projection neurons (TCNs), and dendrites of local circuit neurons in the ventral lateral nucleus of the cat thalamus were analyzed quantitatively by observing several series of serial ultrathin sections and by using a computer-assisted program for the three-dimensional reconstruction from serial ultrathin sections. However, they rarely had a glomerulus-like appearance, as described previously in the ventral lateral nucleus and other main thalamic relay nuclei. These results provide the quantitative assessment of synaptic arrangements among CTs, presynaptic dendrites, and TCN dendrites and reveal their spatial interrelations in the cat ventral lateral nucleus..  

Terminals of cerebellar afferents (CB) to different regions of the ventral lateral nucleus (VL) of the rhesus monkey thalamus were labeled with wheat germ agglutinin-horseradish peroxidase following injections into the dentate nucleus.  

We found dense single label in the central portion of the ventral anterior nucleus pars principalis (VApc) and the ventral lateral nucleus pars oralis (VLo) following the GPi injections or in the central portion of the ventral posterior lateral nucleus pars oralis (VPLo) and nucleus X (X) following the cerebellar nuclei injections. The pallidothalamic territory included VApc, VLo, and the ventral lateral nucleus pars caudalis (VLc), with the density of these projections decreasing along an anterior to posterior gradient in the thalamus.  

A CT localization method to be used with the Leksell stereotactic system was employed to locate the ventral lateral nucleus of the thalamus (VL) and globus pallidus (GP) for treating extrapyramidal disease (EPD).  

Terminals from the lateral nucleus were found to be located most medially in the thalamus, predominantly in the ventral lateral nucleus and the rostral pole of the posterior nuclear group. Terminals from the posterior interposed nucleus were located slightly rostral and lateral to those from the lateral nucleus, mainly around the border between the ventral lateral nucleus and the ventral posterior medial nucleus.  

These nuclei included the ventral lateral nucleus (VL), the intralaminar nuclei (ILN), the mediodorsal nucleus (MD) and midline nuclei.  

Following tritiated amino acid injections into the substantia nigra pars reticulata (SNr) and WGA-HRP injections into the contralateral cerebellar nuclei, we found that the nigrothalamic and cerebellothalamic afferents distribute to three main targets: the central portion of the ventral anterior nucleus (VA) and the ventral lateral nucleus (VL), the internal medullary lamina (IML) region, which includes the paralaminar VA, the mediodorsal nucleus (MD) and the central lateral nucleus (CL), and finally the ventromedial nucleus (VM).  

On lesion mapping on CT or MRI, all patients had involvement of the lateral part of the thalamus (ventral posterior nucleus and ventral lateral nucleus).  

Hemiataxia seemed linked to involvement of the caudal part of the ventral lateral nucleus of the thalamus or the immediately adjacent medial part of the PLIC.  

These CR neurons were located in the oral portion of the ventral posterolateral nucleus (VPLo), in caudal portions of the ventral lateral nucleus (VLc), and in area X. These PR neurons were located in rostral portions of VLc, in the oral part of the ventral lateral nucleus (VLo), and in the parvicellular part of the ventral anterior nucleus (VApc).  

Thus, in the SPL, the ventral posterolateral nucleus, pars oralis (VPLo), ventral lateral nucleus, pars oralis (VLo), and ventral lateral nucleus, pars medialis (VLm) project to rostral regions, whereas the PM and limbic nuclei, anteroventral (AV), and anteromedial (AM), project to area PGm on the medial convexity of the SPL.  

Recordings were performed in the ventral lateral nucleus after destruction of the reticular thalamic complex and cortical lesion.  

In the present study, the reticular complex was lesioned by kainic acid and the CT response of relay neurons of the ventral lateral nucleus was recorded intracellularly in cats under pentobarbital or urethane anaesthesia.  

By means of silver nitrate impregnation after Fink-Heimer and Golgi-Kopsch structural peculiarities have been revealed in the neurons of the ventral lateral nucleus (VL) of the cat thalamus and its connections with the motor cortex.  

The most massive input to the thalamus arises from the contralateral DCN and terminates in the so-called cell-sparse zone, which consists of the ventral posterolateral nucleus, pars oralis, the ventral lateral nucleus pars caudalis, and pars postrema and area x of Olszewski.  

Both HRP and NY labeled neurons were found in close proximity or in overlapping regions of the rostral intralaminar nuclei and the adjacent ventral lateral nucleus of the thalamus.  

A disinhibition syndrome affecting speech (with logorrhoea, delirium, jokes, laughs, inappropriate comments, extraordinary confabulations), was the main manifestation of a right-sided thalamic infarct involving the dorsomedian nucleus, intralaminar nuclei and medial part of the ventral lateral nucleus.  

The cerebellothalamic projections from all cerebellar nuclei including the fastigial nucleus are targeted primarily to the ventral lateral nucleus both contra- and ipsilaterally.  

Injections restricted to V1 revealed a dense projection from the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus as well as projections from the pulvinar, the posterior thalamic nucleus, and the ventral lateral nucleus. Injections restricted to V2 revealed projections from the pulvinar, the ventral lateral nucleus, and the posterior thalamic nucleus, but only a slight projection from the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus.  

The vestibular projections to the VPL and the ventral lateral nucleus (VL) via MLF, ATD and superior cerebellar peduncle (SCP) originate mainly in the MVN and SVN, bilaterally.  

This case also shows that thalamic aphasia and anterograde amnesia may be related to a paramedian lesion of the thalamus, with special reference to involvement of the dorsomedial nucleus, in the absence of lesion of the pulvinar and mamillo-thalamic tract and of conspicuous involvement of the ventral lateral nucleus.  

There was a sparse projection to the ipsilateral ventral lateral nucleus. The contralateral projection to the ventral medial and ventral lateral nuclei was marked by dense clusters of label ventral to the internal medullary lamina extending, in the dorsal ventral lateral nucleus, to its rostral pole.  

Retrogradely labeled cells were also found in the rostral part of the ventral lateral nucleus (VL).  

The thalamic nucleus ventralis oralis posterior (V.o.p) of Saimiri sciureus corresponds to the posterior basal part of the ventral lateral nucleus and is characterized by medium-sized nerve cells.  

In cases with injections placed in the lateral part of area 4, dense accumulations of label were present in the lateral part of the ventral anterior nucleus (VA), the central part of the ventral lateral nucleus (VL), the ventral half of the ventral posterior inferior nucleus (VPI), the caudal part of the central lateral nucleus (CL), and the centrum medianum (CM).  

Significant increases in l-CMRg (p greater than 0.05) were found in the globus pallidus, entopeduncular nucleus, substantia nigra, subthalamic nucleus, inferior olive, red nucleus, lateral cerebellar cortex, ventral lateral nucleus of the thalamus and the midbrain reticular formation.  

The distributions of mean interspike intervals were also altered by these caudate lesions in the pallidum and in the ventral lateral nucleus of the thalamus.  

Compared to five control animals, treated rats showed statistically significant (p less than or equal to 0.05) increases in 1-CMRg in globus pallidus, ventral lateral nucleus of the thalamus, subthalamic nucleus, red nucleus, substantia nigra, entopeduncular nucleus, inferior olivary nucleus, and the lateral cerebellar cortex.  

Labeled thalamic cells were found predominantly in the ventral lateral nucleus (VL).  

ventral lateral nucleus joins the system of somatic impulse transfer to the sensorimotor cortex by the third week of life..  

Injections of 3H-leucine in cortical area 5a were associated with terminal labeling primarily in the spinal recipient zone of the ventral lateral nucleus (VLsp) and the medial division of the posterior group (POm).  

Input from the spinal cord projects to two segregated zones which are transitional between the ventral lateral nucleus (VL) and VPL rostrally and between the posterior thalamic complex (PO) and VPL caudally.  

Within the rostral ventral tier nuclei fastigiothalamic terminations were localized in the medial parts of the ventral medial and ventral lateral nuclei, whereas dentatothalamic projections were concentrated in the lateral parts of the ventral medial nucleus and the medial half of the ventral lateral nucleus. Terminations from the posterior interpositus nucleus were observed ventrally and laterally within the caudal two-thirds of the ventral medial nucleus and throughout the ventral lateral nucleus, where they were densest in the lateral part of its lateral wing and within the central part of its cap. The anterior interpositus nucleus also projected to the central and lateral parts of the ventral lateral nucleus, but these terminations were considerably less dense than those from the posterior interpositus.  

Rather there are longitudinally oriented strips of terminal labeling which extend through all divisions of the ventral lateral nucleus, i.e., the VLps, the VLc, the VLo, as well as nucleus X, the oral division of the ventral posterolateral nucleus (VPLo), the central lateral nucleus (CL), and the most caudal region of the ventral anterior nucleus (VA).  

This substantiates the presence of an intermediate nucleus (i.e., Vim) between VPL and the more rostral ventral lateral nucleus.  

This pathway terminates chiefly in the contralateral medial part of the posterior nucleus of the thalamus (POm) including the magnocellular part of the medial geniculate body (Mgmc), the ventrobasal complex (VB) and the area of the ventral lateral nucleus (VL) bordering on VB.  

Within the thalamus, projections to the ventral lateral nucleus were scanty compared to those in the ventral anterior nucleus.  

Following injections into the motor cortex, the labelled cells were distributed throughout a large region (greater than 2 mm wide) in the ventral portion of the ventral lateral nucleus (VL).  

In autoradiographic studies, EPN axons were found to terminate in a J-shpaed region in the dorsal and medial part of the ventral anterior nucleus (VA) and the rostral portion of the adjacent ventral lateral nucleus (VL).  

The populations of neurons in the nucleus interpositus (IP) of the cat cerebellum which project to the ventral lateral nucleus of the thalamus (VL), the red nucleus (RN), the nucleus reticularis tegmenti pontis (NRTP), the pontine nuclei (PN), the inferior olive (IO), and the cerebellar cortex were identified by intracellular and extracellular injections of HRP and studied electrophysiologically.  

Vagal shocks elicited responses of a large percentage of units in the anterior medial, paracentral, lateral dorsal, and lateral, and medial dorsal nuclei, as well as in part of the ventral lateral nucleus adjacent to the paracentral.  

Rostrolateral nigral neurons transported radioactive label preferentially and abundantly to thalamic nuclei; localized isotope was found in parts of three thalamic nuclei, the medial part of the ventral lateral nucleus (VLm), the magnocellular part of the ventral anterior nucleus (VAmc), and the paralaminar part of the dorsomedial nucleus (DMpl)9 Lateral neurons in the caudal half of the SN transmitted radioactive label to the same thalamic nuclei as rostrolateral nigral neuron.  


-
[ View All ]