title: Thalamic amnesia after infarct: The role of the mammillothalamic tract and mediodorsal nucleus.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To improve current understanding of the mechanisms behind thalamic amnesia, as it is unclear whether it is directly related to damage to specific nuclei, in particular to the anterior or mediodorsal nuclei, or indirectly related to lesions of the mammillothalamic tract (MTT).
  
  
  METHODS
  We recruited 12 patients with a left thalamic infarction and 25 healthy matched controls. All underwent a comprehensive neuropsychological assessment of verbal and visual memory, executive functions, language, and affect, and a high-resolution structural volumetric MRI scan. Thalamic lesions were manually segmented and automatically localized with a computerized thalamic atlas. As well as comparing patients with controls, we divided patients into subgroups with intact or damaged MTT.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Only one patient had a small lesion of the anterior nucleus. Most of the lesions included the mediodorsal (n = 11) and intralaminar nuclei (n = 12). Patients performed worse than controls on the verbal memory tasks, but the 5 patients with intact MTT who showed isolated lesions of the mediodorsal nucleus (MD) only displayed moderate memory impairment. The 7 patients with a damaged MTT performed worse on the verbal memory tasks than those whose MTT was intact.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Lesions in the MTT and in the MD result in memory impairment, severely in the case of MTT and to a lesser extent in the case of MD, thus highlighting the roles played by these 2 structures in memory circuits.
authors.affiliation: From Inserm (L.D., P.E., M.P., F.B., P.P., J.P.) and Université de Toulouse III, UPS (L.D., P.E., M.P., F.B., P.P., J.P.), Imagerie Cérébrale et Handicaps Neurologiques, UMR 825, and Service de Neurologie, Pôle Neurosciences, CHU Purpan (L.D., M.P., N.R., J.-F.A., F.B., J.P.), Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Toulouse; Centre de Recherche Cerveau et Cognition (CNRS, CerCO, UMR 5549) (L.D., E.J.B.), Université de Toulouse; and CHU de Bordeaux, Unité Neurovasculaire (I.S.), University of Bordeaux, France. lola.danet@inserm.fr.
authors.forename: Lola
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Danet
authors.affiliation: From Inserm (L.D., P.E., M.P., F.B., P.P., J.P.) and Université de Toulouse III, UPS (L.D., P.E., M.P., F.B., P.P., J.P.), Imagerie Cérébrale et Handicaps Neurologiques, UMR 825, and Service de Neurologie, Pôle Neurosciences, CHU Purpan (L.D., M.P., N.R., J.-F.A., F.B., J.P.), Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Toulouse; Centre de Recherche Cerveau et Cognition (CNRS, CerCO, UMR 5549) (L.D., E.J.B.), Université de Toulouse; and CHU de Bordeaux, Unité Neurovasculaire (I.S.), University of Bordeaux, France.
authors.forename: Emmanuel J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Barbeau
authors.affiliation: From Inserm (L.D., P.E., M.P., F.B., P.P., J.P.) and Université de Toulouse III, UPS (L.D., P.E., M.P., F.B., P.P., J.P.), Imagerie Cérébrale et Handicaps Neurologiques, UMR 825, and Service de Neurologie, Pôle Neurosciences, CHU Purpan (L.D., M.P., N.R., J.-F.A., F.B., J.P.), Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Toulouse; Centre de Recherche Cerveau et Cognition (CNRS, CerCO, UMR 5549) (L.D., E.J.B.), Université de Toulouse; and CHU de Bordeaux, Unité Neurovasculaire (I.S.), University of Bordeaux, France.
authors.forename: Pierre
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Eustache
authors.affiliation: From Inserm (L.D., P.E., M.P., F.B., P.P., J.P.) and Université de Toulouse III, UPS (L.D., P.E., M.P., F.B., P.P., J.P.), Imagerie Cérébrale et Handicaps Neurologiques, UMR 825, and Service de Neurologie, Pôle Neurosciences, CHU Purpan (L.D., M.P., N.R., J.-F.A., F.B., J.P.), Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Toulouse; Centre de Recherche Cerveau et Cognition (CNRS, CerCO, UMR 5549) (L.D., E.J.B.), Université de Toulouse; and CHU de Bordeaux, Unité Neurovasculaire (I.S.), University of Bordeaux, France.
authors.forename: Mélanie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Planton
authors.affiliation: From Inserm (L.D., P.E., M.P., F.B., P.P., J.P.) and Université de Toulouse III, UPS (L.D., P.E., M.P., F.B., P.P., J.P.), Imagerie Cérébrale et Handicaps Neurologiques, UMR 825, and Service de Neurologie, Pôle Neurosciences, CHU Purpan (L.D., M.P., N.R., J.-F.A., F.B., J.P.), Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Toulouse; Centre de Recherche Cerveau et Cognition (CNRS, CerCO, UMR 5549) (L.D., E.J.B.), Université de Toulouse; and CHU de Bordeaux, Unité Neurovasculaire (I.S.), University of Bordeaux, France.
authors.forename: Nicolas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Raposo
authors.affiliation: From Inserm (L.D., P.E., M.P., F.B., P.P., J.P.) and Université de Toulouse III, UPS (L.D., P.E., M.P., F.B., P.P., J.P.), Imagerie Cérébrale et Handicaps Neurologiques, UMR 825, and Service de Neurologie, Pôle Neurosciences, CHU Purpan (L.D., M.P., N.R., J.-F.A., F.B., J.P.), Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Toulouse; Centre de Recherche Cerveau et Cognition (CNRS, CerCO, UMR 5549) (L.D., E.J.B.), Université de Toulouse; and CHU de Bordeaux, Unité Neurovasculaire (I.S.), University of Bordeaux, France.
authors.forename: Igor
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Sibon
authors.affiliation: From Inserm (L.D., P.E., M.P., F.B., P.P., J.P.) and Université de Toulouse III, UPS (L.D., P.E., M.P., F.B., P.P., J.P.), Imagerie Cérébrale et Handicaps Neurologiques, UMR 825, and Service de Neurologie, Pôle Neurosciences, CHU Purpan (L.D., M.P., N.R., J.-F.A., F.B., J.P.), Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Toulouse; Centre de Recherche Cerveau et Cognition (CNRS, CerCO, UMR 5549) (L.D., E.J.B.), Université de Toulouse; and CHU de Bordeaux, Unité Neurovasculaire (I.S.), University of Bordeaux, France.
authors.forename: Jean-François
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Albucher
authors.affiliation: From Inserm (L.D., P.E., M.P., F.B., P.P., J.P.) and Université de Toulouse III, UPS (L.D., P.E., M.P., F.B., P.P., J.P.), Imagerie Cérébrale et Handicaps Neurologiques, UMR 825, and Service de Neurologie, Pôle Neurosciences, CHU Purpan (L.D., M.P., N.R., J.-F.A., F.B., J.P.), Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Toulouse; Centre de Recherche Cerveau et Cognition (CNRS, CerCO, UMR 5549) (L.D., E.J.B.), Université de Toulouse; and CHU de Bordeaux, Unité Neurovasculaire (I.S.), University of Bordeaux, France.
authors.forename: Fabrice
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bonneville
authors.affiliation: From Inserm (L.D., P.E., M.P., F.B., P.P., J.P.) and Université de Toulouse III, UPS (L.D., P.E., M.P., F.B., P.P., J.P.), Imagerie Cérébrale et Handicaps Neurologiques, UMR 825, and Service de Neurologie, Pôle Neurosciences, CHU Purpan (L.D., M.P., N.R., J.-F.A., F.B., J.P.), Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Toulouse; Centre de Recherche Cerveau et Cognition (CNRS, CerCO, UMR 5549) (L.D., E.J.B.), Université de Toulouse; and CHU de Bordeaux, Unité Neurovasculaire (I.S.), University of Bordeaux, France.
authors.forename: Patrice
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Peran
authors.affiliation: From Inserm (L.D., P.E., M.P., F.B., P.P., J.P.) and Université de Toulouse III, UPS (L.D., P.E., M.P., F.B., P.P., J.P.), Imagerie Cérébrale et Handicaps Neurologiques, UMR 825, and Service de Neurologie, Pôle Neurosciences, CHU Purpan (L.D., M.P., N.R., J.-F.A., F.B., J.P.), Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Toulouse; Centre de Recherche Cerveau et Cognition (CNRS, CerCO, UMR 5549) (L.D., E.J.B.), Université de Toulouse; and CHU de Bordeaux, Unité Neurovasculaire (I.S.), University of Bordeaux, France.
authors.forename: Jérémie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pariente
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000647:Amnesia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology* / Q000378:metabolism; D002544:Cerebral Infarction / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008326:Mammillary Bodies / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D020645:Mediodorsal Thalamic Nucleus / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D013788:Thalamus / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology