intralaminar thalamic nuclei

The ITN are generally divided in two groups as follows:

• anterior (rostral) group
• central lateral nucleus
• central medial nucleus (not referred to as "centromedial"[http://braininfo.rprc.washington.edu/centraldirectory.aspx?ID=321 NeuroName 321])
• paracentral nucleus
• posterior (caudal) intralaminar group
• centromedian nucleus
• parafascicular nucleus

Some sources also include a "central dorsal" nucleus.

Midline intralaminar nuclei receive afferents from the brain stem, spinal cord, and cerebellum. Connections with the cerebral cortex and basal nuclei are reciprocal. Afferents from the spinothalamic tract as well as periaqueductal gray are part of a pathway involved in pain processing.{{Cite journal |last=Schmahmann |first=Jeremy D. |date=2003-09-21 |title=Vascular Syndromes of the Thalamus |url=https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/01.STR.0000087786.38997.9E |doi-access=free |journal=Stroke |language=en |volume=34 |issue=9 |pages=2264–2278 |doi=10.1161/01.STR.0000087786.38997.9E |issn=0039-2499 |pmid=12933968 |s2cid=6347059}}

The intralaminar nuclei project efferents to the hypothalamus, amygdala, and limbic lobe.{{Cite book |last=Ropper |first=Allan H. |title=Adams and Victor's Principles of Neurology |last2=Samuels |first2=Martin A. |last3=Klein |first3=Joshua |last4=Prasad |first4=Sashank |date= |publisher=McGraw Hill |year=2023 |isbn=978-1-264-26453-7 |edition=12th |location=New York |pages=140}}

The ITN are thought to be involved in mediating arousal, affective, autonomic responses to pain.

Degeneration of this area may occur in progressive supranuclear palsy and Parkinson's disease.{{cite journal |vauthors=Henderson JM, Carpenter K, Cartwright H, Halliday GM |title=Loss of thalamic intralaminar nuclei in progressive supranuclear palsy and Parkinson's disease: clinical and therapeutic implications |journal=Brain |volume=123 |issue=7 |pages=1410–21 |date=July 2000 |pmid=10869053 |doi=10.1093/brain/123.7.1410}}

This area is also prominently affected in traumatic brain injuries. One postmortem study of patients with closed head injuries showed correlation of the involvement of these nuclei with the various degrees of disability.{{Cite journal |title=Thalamic Nuclei After Human Blunt Head Injury |url=https://academic.oup.com/jnen/article-lookup/doi/10.1097/01.jnen.0000229241.28619.75 |access-date=2023-03-29 |journal=Journal of Neuropathology & Experimental Neurology |year=2006 |doi=10.1097/01.jnen.0000229241.28619.75 |last1=Maxwell |first1=William L. |last2=MacKinnon |first2=Mary Anne |last3=Smith |first3=Douglas H. |last4=McIntosh |first4=Tracy K. |last5=Graham |first5=David I. |volume=65 |issue=5 |pages=478–488 |pmid=16772871 |s2cid=15304046 |doi-access=free }}{{Cite journal |last=Benarroch |first=Eduardo E. |date=2008-09-16 |title=The midline and intralaminar thalamic nuclei: Anatomic and functional specificity and implications in neurologic disease |url=https://n.neurology.org/content/71/12/944 |journal=Neurology |language=en |volume=71 |issue=12 |pages=944–949 |doi=10.1212/01.wnl.0000326066.57313.13 |issn=0028-3878 |pmid=18794498|s2cid=3397224 }}

• Central tegmental tract
• Output of the ARAS

{{Reflist}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20070214094027/http://medinfo.ufl.edu/year2/neuro/review/images/thalamus.jpg Diagram] at University of Florida

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Category:Thalamic nuclei

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