Pulvinar nuclei

By convention, the pulvinar is divided into four nuclei:

Their connectomic details are as follows:

• The lateral and inferior pulvinar nuclei have widespread connections with early visual cortical areas.
• The dorsal part of the lateral pulvinar nucleus predominantly has connections with posterior parietal cortex and the dorsal stream cortical areas.
• The medial pulvinar nucleus has widespread connections with cingulate, posterior parietal, premotor and prefrontal cortical areas.{{cite journal |last1=Cappe |first1=Céline |last2=Morel |first2=Anne |last3=Barone |first3=Pascal |last4=Rouiller |first4=Eric M. |title=The Thalamocortical Projection Systems in Primate: An Anatomical Support for Multisensory and Sensorimotor Interplay |journal=Cerebral Cortex |date=September 2009 |volume=19 |issue=9 |pages=2025–2037 |doi=10.1093/cercor/bhn228 |pmid=19150924 |pmc=2722423 }}
• The pulvinar also has input from the superior colliculus to inferior, lateral and medial sections, which seems to be important in the initiation and compensation of saccade,{{cite journal |last1=Berman |first1=R. A. |last2=Wurtz |first2=R. H. |title=Signals Conveyed in the Pulvinar Pathway from Superior Colliculus to Cortical Area MT |journal=Journal of Neuroscience |date=12 January 2011 |volume=31 |issue=2 |pages=373–384 |doi=10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4738-10.2011 |pmid=21228149 |pmc=6623455 |doi-access=free }}{{cite journal |last1=Robinson |first1=David Lee |last2=Petersen |first2=Steven E. |title=Responses of pulvinar neurons to real and self-induced stimulus movement |journal=Brain Research |date=July 1985 |volume=338 |issue=2 |pages=392–394 |doi=10.1016/0006-8993(85)90176-3 |pmid=4027606 |s2cid=7547426 }} as well as the regulation of visual attention{{cite journal |last1=Petersen |first1=Steven E. |last2=Robinson |first2=David Lee |last3=Morris |first3=J.David |title=Contributions of the pulvinar to visual spatial attention |journal=Neuropsychologia |date=January 1987 |volume=25 |issue=1 |pages=97–105 |doi=10.1016/0028-3932(87)90046-7 |pmid=3574654 |s2cid=23143322 |url=https://zenodo.org/record/1258244 }}Chalupa, L. (1991). Visual function of the pulvinar. The Neural Basis of Visual Function. CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida, pp. 140-159.

No distinctive syndrome or obvious sensory deficit can be linked to the pulvinar. Lesions of the pulvinar can result in neglect syndromes and attentional deficits.{{cite journal |last1=Arend |first1=I. |last2=Rafal |first2=R. |last3=Ward |first3=R. |title=Spatial and temporal deficits are regionally dissociable in patients with pulvinar lesions |journal=Brain |date=10 January 2008 |volume=131 |issue=8 |pages=2140–2152 |doi=10.1093/brain/awn135 |pmid=18669494 |doi-access=free }} In addition, lesions in early life can impact normal visuomotor behaviors such as reaching and grasping.{{cite journal |last1=Mundinano |first1=Inaki |title=Transient visual pathway critical for normal development of primate grasping behavior |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |volume=115 |issue=6 |pages=1364–1369 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1717016115 |pmid=29298912|pmc=5819431 |year=2018 |doi-access=free }} Furthermore, the pulvinar was demonstrated to be instrumental in the preservation of vision afforded to a boy who lost his primary visual cortex bilaterally at birth{{cite journal |last1=Mundinano |first1=IC |last2=Chen |first2=J |last3=de Souza |first3=M |last4=Sarossy |first4=MG |last5=Joanisse |first5=MF |last6=Goodale |first6=MA |last7=Bourne |first7=JA |title=More than blindsight: Case report of a child with extraordinary visual capacity following perinatal bilateral occipital lobe injury. |journal=Neuropsychologia |date=2017 |volume=128 |pages=178–186 |doi=10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2017.11.017 |pmid=29146465|s2cid=207242249 }} as well as other forms of blindsight in monkeys{{cite journal |last1=Kinoshita |first1=Masaharu |last2=Kato |first2=Rikako |last3=Isa |first3=Kaoru |last4=Kobayashi |first4=Kenta |last5=Kobayashi |first5=Kazuto |last6=Onoe |first6=Hirotaka |last7=Isa |first7=Tadashi |title=Dissecting the circuit for blindsight to reveal the critical role of pulvinar and superior colliculus |journal=Nature Communications |date=December 2019 |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=135 |doi=10.1038/s41467-018-08058-0 |pmid=30635570 |pmc=6329824 |bibcode=2019NatCo..10..135K }}{{cite journal |last1=Takakuwa |first1=Norihiro |last2=Isa |first2=Kaoru |last3=Onoe |first3=Hirotaka |last4=Takahashi |first4=Jun |last5=Isa |first5=Tadashi |title=Contribution of the Pulvinar and Lateral Geniculate Nucleus to the Control of Visually Guided Saccades in Blindsight Monkeys |journal=The Journal of Neuroscience |date=24 February 2021 |volume=41 |issue=8 |pages=1755–1768 |doi=10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2293-20.2020 |pmid=33443074 |pmc=8115889 }} and humans.{{cite journal |last1=Kletenik |first1=Isaiah |last2=Ferguson |first2=Michael A. |last3=Bateman |first3=James R. |last4=Cohen |first4=Alexander L. |last5=Lin |first5=Christopher |last6=Tetreault |first6=Aaron |last7=Pelak |first7=Victoria S. |last8=Anderson |first8=Clark Alan |last9=Prasad |first9=Sashank |last10=Darby |first10=Richard Ryan |last11=Fox |first11=Michael D. |title=Network Localization of Unconscious Visual Perception in Blindsight |journal=Annals of Neurology |date=February 2022 |volume=91 |issue=2 |pages=217–224 |doi=10.1002/ana.26292 |pmid=34961965 |s2cid=245553461 |pmc=10013845 }} Strokes affecting the pulvinar have also been implicated in the development of chronic pain.{{cite journal |last1=Vartiainen |first1=Nuutti |last2=Perchet |first2=Caroline |last3=Magnin |first3=Michel |last4=Creac’h |first4=Christelle |last5=Convers |first5=Philippe |last6=Nighoghossian |first6=Norbert |last7=Mauguière |first7=François |last8=Peyron |first8=Roland |last9=Garcia-Larrea |first9=Luis |title=Thalamic pain: anatomical and physiological indices of prediction |journal=Brain |date=March 2016 |volume=139 |issue=3 |pages=708–722 |doi=10.1093/brain/awv389 |pmid=26912644 |doi-access=free }} In a case study of photophobia caused by blue light, pulvinar nuclei associated with the melanopsin containing ipRGCs visual pathway where bilaterally activated.{{cite journal |last1=Panorgias |first1=Athanasios |last2=Lee |first2=Danielle |last3=Silva |first3=Katie E. |last4=Borsook |first4=David |last5=Moulton |first5=Eric A. |title=Blue light activates pulvinar nuclei in longstanding idiopathic photophobia: A case report |journal=NeuroImage: Clinical |date=2019 |volume=24 |pages=102096 |doi=10.1016/j.nicl.2019.102096 |pmid=31795037 |pmc=6879998 }}

The pulvinar varies in importance in different animals: it is virtually nonexistent in the rat, and grouped as the lateral posterior-pulvinar complex with the lateral posterior thalamic nucleus due to its small size in cats. In humans it makes up roughly 40% of the thalamus making it the largest of its nuclei.LaBerge, D. (1999). Attention pp. 44-98. In Cognitive science (Handbook of Perception and Cognition, Second Edition), Bly BM, Rumelhart DE. (edits). Academic Press {{ISBN|978-0-12-601730-4}} p. 73 Significant research has been undertaken in the marmoset examining the role of the retinorecipient region of the inferior pulvinar (medial subdivision), which projects to visual cortical area MT, in the early development of MT and the dorsal stream, as well as following early-life lesions of the primary visual cortex (V1).{{cite journal |last1=Warner |first1=Claire E. |last2=Kwan |first2=William C. |last3=Bourne |first3=James A. |title=The Early Maturation of Visual Cortical Area MT is Dependent on Input from the Retinorecipient Medial Portion of the Inferior Pulvinar |journal=Journal of Neuroscience |date=28 November 2012 |volume=32 |issue=48 |pages=17073–17085 |doi=10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3269-12.2012 |pmid=23197701 |pmc=6621860 |doi-access=free }}{{cite journal |last1=Warner |first1=Claire |last2=Goldshmit |first2=Yona |last3=Bourne |first3=James |title=Retinal afferents synapse with relay cells targeting the middle temporal area in the pulvinar and lateral geniculate nuclei |journal=Frontiers in Neuroanatomy |date=2010 |volume=4 |page=8 |doi=10.3389/neuro.05.008.2010 |pmid=20179789 |pmc=2826187 |doi-access=free }}{{cite journal |last1=Warner |first1=Claire E. |last2=Kwan |first2=William C. |last3=Wright |first3=David |last4=Johnston |first4=Leigh A. |last5=Egan |first5=Gary F. |last6=Bourne |first6=James A. |title=Preservation of Vision by the Pulvinar following Early-Life Primary Visual Cortex Lesions |journal=Current Biology |date=16 February 2015 |volume=25 |issue=4 |pages=424–434 |doi=10.1016/j.cub.2014.12.028 |pmid=25601551 |doi-access=free }}

The word pulvinar ({{IPAc-en|p|ʌ|l|ˈ|v|aɪ|n|ər}}) in Latin broadly means an armchair lined with numerous pillows. It was first neuroanatomically named by Karl Friedrich Burdach in 1817: "The cushion (pulvinar), a swelling at the posterior end of the inner edge of the upper quadrigemina like a pillow over seats", English translation (original German: "Das Polster (pulvinar), eine Anschwellung am hintern Ende des inner Randes der obern Vierhügel wie ein Kissen herüber legt"{{cite book | last=Burdach | first=K.F. | title=Ueber die Aufgabe der Morphologie | publisher=In der Dyk'schen Buchhandlung | year=1817 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=av8-AAAAcAAJ | language=de | access-date=2023-08-29 | page=}}). In Latin pulvinus could refer to "a sofa, cushioned seat, seat of honor, easy couch; of the couch or marriage-bed ", or more specifically, "a couch made of cushions, and spread over with a splendid covering, for the gods and persons who received divine honors; a couch or cushioned seat of the gods".{{cite web | title=Charlton T. Lewis, Charles Short, A Latin Dictionary, pulvīnar | website=Perseus Digital Library | url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0059:entry=pulvinar | access-date=2023-08-29}} In the religion of ancient Rome, a pulvinar was an hetoimasia or empty throne, cushioned for occupation by a deity.{{cite journal | last1=Vranesevic | first1=Branka | last2=Spehar | first2=Olga | title=Enthronement of the invisible. Understanding the origin and evolution of the iconography of empty thrones and hetoimasia in the late antique period | journal=Zograf | issue=45 | year=2021 | issn=0350-1361 | doi=10.2298/zog2145001v | pages=1–14| doi-access=free }} While anatomically, neuroanatomically there was no Roman deity between its arms, there was the pineal gland, that had in the 17th century, been identified by the French philosopher René Descartes as the seat of intellect and soul, and it has been suggested this link contributed to the first naming of this part of the brain by Karl Friedrich Burdach.{{cite journal | last1=Turliuc | first1=Dana | last2=Turliuc | first2=Şerban | last3=Cucu | first3=Andrei | last4=Dumitrescu | first4=Gabriela Florenţa | last5=Cărăuleanu | first5=Alexandru | last6=Buzdugă | first6=Cătălin | last7=Tamaş | first7=Camelia | last8=Sava | first8=Anca | last9=Costea | first9=Claudia Florida | title=A review of analogies between some neuroanatomical terms and roman household objects | journal=Annals of Anatomy | volume=204 | year=2016 | issn=0940-9602 | doi=10.1016/j.aanat.2015.07.001 | pages=127–133}}

{{Reflist}}

File:Constudthal.gif|Thalamus

File:Gray684.png|Deep dissection of brain-stem. Lateral view.

File:Gray691.png|Dissection of brain-stem. Dorsal view.

File:Gray774.png|Scheme showing central connections of the optic nerves and optic tracts.

File:Human brain left dissected midsagittal view description 2.JPG|Human brain left dissected midsagittal view

• {{BrainMaps|pulvinar}}
• {{UMichAtlas|eye_38}} - "The Visual Pathway from Below"

{{Diencephalon}}

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