The mouse pulvinar nucleus: Organization of the tectorecipient zones

Abstract

Comparative studies have greatly contributed to our understanding of the organization and function of visual pathways of the brain, including that of humans. This comparative approach is a particularly useful tactic for studying the pulvinar nucleus, an enigmatic structure which comprises the largest territory of the human thalamus. This review focuses on the regions of the mouse pulvinar that receive input from the superior colliculus, and highlights similarities of the tectorecipient pulvinar identified across species. Open questions are discussed, as well as the potential contributions of the mouse model for endeavors to elucidate the function of the pulvinar nucleus.

The nucleus pretectalis principalis: A pretectal structure hidden in the mammalian thalamus

“…Our findings regarding the cytoarchitecture of the pulvinar complex are, to a large extent in agreement with previous reports in the degus and other rodent species (Baldwin et al, ; Fredes et al, ; Kuljis & Fernandez, ; Robson & Hall, ; Zhou et al, ). Using nissl and VGluT2 material, we divided the pulvinar into three nuclear compartments: the caudal, the rostro‐lateral and the rostro‐medial pulvinar.…”

“…In agreement with previous studies in rodents (Baldwin et al, ; Fredes et al, ; Robson & Hall, ; Zhou et al, ) we found that each pulvinar division is defined by a specific pattern of tectal projections. Diffuse/bilateral and topographic/ipsilateral projections were restricted to the caudal and rostro‐lateral pulvinar, respectively, while the rostro‐medial pulvinar was free of collicular afferences.…”

“…In mammals, TGCs project to the caudal division of the pulvinar complex (PulC) in the thalamus (Fredes et al, ; Gale & Murphy, ). This projection is thought to be homologous to the tecto‐rotundal projection of birds, as it displays a bilateral and diffuse organization (Baldwin, Wong, Reed, & Kaas, ; Fredes et al, ; Robson & Hall, ; Zhou, Maire, Masterson, & Bickford, ). However, in spite of the notable structural conservation of the TGC tecto‐thalamic projection among amniotes, some conspicuous elements associated with the tectofugal pathway in birds seem to be absent in mammals, in particular, those related to the inhibitory feedforward and feedback connections between the pretectum, thalamus, and tectum.…”

An afferent white matter pathway from the pulvinar to the amygdala facilitates fear recognition

“…We wanted to translate our work in humans to animal research that has demonstrated clear relationships between the anatomical presence of a subcortical route and fearful behaviour [18][19][20] . To this end, we examined data from the Penn Emotion Recognition task, which was implemented in the HCP battery of behavioural tests.…”

“…Recent animal research has revealed several potential direct subcortical pathways that have a causal relationship with fearful behaviour in response to visual threats [18][19][20] . In the absence of relevant post-mortem human research, however, our anatomical knowledge of the human subcortical route to the amygdala can only be derived from tractography of diffusion-weighted images (DWI).…”