title: The neural connectivity of the intralaminar thalamic nuclei in the human brain: a diffusion tensor tractography study.
abstract: 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.
authors: Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, College of Medicine, Yeungnam University, Republic of Korea.
authors: Sung Ho
authors: SH
authors: Jang
authors: Department of Physical Therapy, College of Health Sciences, Dankook University, Republic of Korea.
authors: Hyoung Won
authors: HW
authors: Lim
authors: Department of Physical Therapy, College of Health Sciences, Dankook University, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: eangbul@hanmail.net.
authors: Sang Seok
authors: SS
authors: Yeo
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001143:Arousal / Q000502:physiology; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D056324:Diffusion Tensor Imaging / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D020646:Intralaminar Thalamic Nuclei / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009068:Movement / Q000502:physiology; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D012677:Sensation / Q000502:physiology; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Ascending reticular activating system; Diffusion tensor imaging; Intralaminar nuclei; Neural connectivity; Thalamus