Thalamic reticular and intralaminar nuclei
Reticular and intralaminar nuclei subserve arousal and nociception (Schmahmann 2003).
Reticular nucleus – arousal and attention, important component of conscious awareness, helps to maintain normal rhythm of thalamic neuronal firing; plays role in epileptogenesis
Intralaminar nuclei – receive afferents from the brainstem, cerebellum, spinal cord; involved in autonomic regulation; may be involved in providing striatum with attention-specific sensory information in the context of conditional responses
- Paracentral nucleus
- Central lateral nucleus
- Centromedian nucleus – strong reciprocal connections with basal ganglia (sensorimotor circuit with ventrolateral part of globus pallidus interna)
- Parafascicular nucleus – strong reciprocal connections with basal ganglia (limbic circuit with ventral striatum through the rostromedial GPi; cognitive circuit with caudate through dorsal GPi and pars reticulata of the substantia nigra)
- A number of “midline” nuclei (rhomboid, paraventricular, reunions) – receive input from periaqueductal gray and spinothalamic tract (involved in processing motivational and affective components of nociception)
References
Schmahmann, J. D. Vascular syndromes of the thalamus. Stroke 34, 2264–2278 (2003) https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12933968/
