Last edited: 8/19/2021

11. THALAMUS
Neurology | Thalamus Anatomy & Function Medical Editor: Camilla E. Fiorucci

OUTLINE (A) LIMBIC THALAMIC NUCLEI

(1) Anterior nuclei
I) ANATOMY
II) FUNCTION
III) RECAP
IV) REFERENCES

I) ANATOMY
The thalamus acts as a
relay station between the Part of Papez circuit: important for emotional episodic
cerebral cortex and the memory
subcortical areas. Damage to this area causes disruption of the Papez
It carries sensory and circuit and therefor loss of emotional episodic memory
motor information, and is o Leads to several diseases:
also involved in the limbic  Alzheimer’s disease
system.  Parkinson’s disease
It’s an egg-shaped structure, subdivided by a white matter  Korsakoff syndrome: caused by Thiamine (B1)
structure Internal medullary lamina into 3 groups: deficiency
The 3 groups are: Papez circuit:
o Anterior o Starts from Hippocampus → fornix, passing by
o Lateral corpus callosum → mammillary bodies →
o Medial mammillothalamic tract → anterior thalamic nucleus
It also has a fourth group contained within the Internal → cingulate gyrus 1 → entorhinal cortex 2 →
medullar lamina, called Intralaminar group. perforant pathway → hippocampus
Each group further contains different nuclei. (2) Medial dorsal nucleus (or dorsomedial nucleus)

Table 1: Thalamic groups and associated nuclei

Thalamic group Nucleus
Anterior Anterior nucleus (AN)
Medial dorsal nucleus
Medial
(MDN)
Ventral nuclei
o Ventral anterior
nucleus (VA)
o Ventral lateral
nucleus (VL)
Part of the Medial group
o Ventroposterior
lateral nucleus Involved with:
(VPL) o Emotions, in particular the emotional aspect of
Lateral o Ventroposterior memory
medial nucleus o Motivation
(VPM) o Drive
o Lateral geniculate Damage causes changes in personality, since the patient
nucleus (LGN)
loses their motivation and emotional memory
o Medial geniculate
nucleus (MGN) o Leads to Korsakoff syndrome

Dorsal nuclei: Afferents of the medial dorsal nucleus:

o Pulvinar o Olfactory cortex: found in the temporal lobe,
processes emotions related to smell
Intralaminar Centromedian nucleus  Example: the good memory we can associate to
Parafascicular nucleus the smell of bacon
o Amygdala: part of the limbic system, involved with
emotions such as fear, anxiety, aggression.
II) FUNCTION o Hypothalamus: also part of the limbic system
We will be analyzing the thalamic nuclei based on their Efferent: all this information about e motional memory,
function. motivation, anger and fear is sent from the medial dorsal
nucleus to the prefrontal cortex

1 Part of the limbic system 2 Part of parahippocampal gyrus

THALAMUS ANATOMY AND FUNCTION NEURO PHYSIOLOGY: Note #11 1 of 4

(3) Centromedian nucleus (3) Pulvinar

Part of Intralaminar nuclei

It applies emotional component to pain sensation:
o It receives inputs from the slow pain pathway Most posterior nucleus of the thalamus, on the dorsal
(spinothalamic pathway): aspect of lateral group
 The painful stimulus is transmitted by C fibers to Afferents:
the posterior grey horn of the spinal cord → o Medial geniculate nucleus: carries auditory
decussation → spinal lemniscus → (reticular information
formations) → Centromedian nucleus → o Lateral geniculate nucleus: carries visual information
nonspecific cortical areas o Superior colliculus: involved in reflexes and
• They are called “nonspecific” because they’re coordination of movement between eyes, head and
not fully understood neck starting from visual information
• One of these areas is believed to be the o Inferior colliculus: involved in reflex and coordination
Cingulate gyrus: part of the limbic system, of head and neck movement based on auditory
involved with emotions stimuli.

(B) SENSORY THALAMIC NUCLEI Efferent: Visual association areas (BA18, 19)
o The Pulvinar is involved in visual processing:
(1) Lateral geniculate nucleus interpretation of an image in order to give it meaning
+ recognition of objects, faces, expressions...
(4) Ventroposterior lateral nucleus (VPL)

Mnemonic: L of lateral for Light = Vision

Part of visual pathway
o Visual stimulus → retina → optic nerve, in particular
the median lateral fibers → optic tract → lateral
geniculate nucleus → sends to:
 Midbrain
 Primary Visual cortex (BA17), in the occipital
lobe Afferents:
o Dorsal column – medial lemniscus pathway:
(2) Medial geniculate nucleus carries proprioception, fine touch and vibration sense
from the body
 Fine touch/proprioception/vibration stimulus →
posterior grey horn → fasciculus gracilis and
fasciculus cuneatus → nucleus gracilis and
nucleus cuneatus (medulla) → decussation →
VPL
o Spinothalamic tract:
 Can be further divided in:
• Anterior: carries crude touch and pressure
sensations
• Lateral: carries pain and thermic sensations
 Pain/temperature/crude touch stimulus →
posterior grey horn → decussation →
• To anterior funiculus: makes the anterior
spinothalamic tract
Mnemonic: M of medial for Music = Hearing • To lateral funiculus: makes lateral
Part of auditory pathway spinothalamic tract
o Auditory stimulus → vestibulocochlear nerve ( CN • → the 2 tracts ascend and fuse together again
VIII) → cochlear nuclei in pontomedullary junction → → VPL
decussation at trapezoid body → (superior olivary Efferent: Primary somatosensory cortex (BA3, 1, 2), in
nucleus) → lateral lemniscus → inferior colliculus → parietal lobe
inferior brachium → medial geniculate nucleus →
 Gives rise to acoustic radiation → Primary
auditory cortex (BA41, 42), in temporal lobe

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 (5) Ventroposterior medial nucleus (VPM) (C) MOTOR THALAMIC NUCLEI
(1) Ventral anterior nucleus

Most anterior nucleus of the lateral group

Afferent: basal ganglia
o The Ventral anterior nucleus is involved in initiation
and planning of movement
Receives 2 types of information: o Its involved in enhancing or inhibiting a planned
o All information from the face (proprioception, pain, movement, through different pathways:
temperature, vibration, touch)  Direct pathway: enhances movement
 Carried through trigemino-thalamic tract: • Cortex (premotor and primary motor areas,
• Stimulus from the face → sensory fibers of mainly) → putamen → Globus pallidus
Trigeminal nerve (CN V) → enter the internus → ventral anterior nucleus → sends
brainstem at different level to reach the back to cortex to perform the movement
trigeminal nuclei:  Indirect pathway: inhibits movement
o Mesencephalic trigeminal nucleus • Cortex → putamen → Globus pallidus
o Principal pontine nucleus externus → subthalamus → Globus pallidus
o Spinal nucleus of the trigeminal nerve internus → ventral anterior nucleus → cortex
• From these nuclei → VPM  An additional station can be the substantia nigra,
o Gustation: found in the midbrain
 From the taste buds, the information is carried by • Contains many dopaminergic neurons and can
3 cranial nerves: promote both the direct and indirect pathway,
• Facial nerve (CN VII): receives information depending on what’s needed in a give
from the anterior 2/3 of the tongue situation.
• Glossopharyngeal nerve (CN IX): receives
Efferent: the ventral anterior nucleus sends information to
information from the posterior 1/3 of the
Premotor cortex (BA6)
tongue
• Vagus nerve (CN X): receives information (2) Ventral lateral nucleus
from epiglottis and oropharynx
 These 3 nerves make the Tractus Solitarius, which
arrives at the Nucleus Tractus Solitarii
(medulla) → central tegmental tract → VPM
Efferent: Primary somatosensory cortex (BA3, 1, 2)

2 functions:
o Coordination of motor movement
o Modulation of motor movement
Afferent:
o Basal ganglia:
 Motor cortex → basal ganglia → direct or indirect
pathway → ventral lateral nucleus → motor cortex
o Cerebellum:
 Motor cortex → dentate nucleus of cerebellum:
• This nucleus receives different types of
information: proprioception, equilibrium from
the inner ear, and from the motor cortex
o It elaborates all of them to obtain the best
movement to perform in a given situation.
 From the dentate nucleus → (red nucleus) →
ventral lateral nucleus
Efferent: Primary motor cortex (BA4), which allows us
to perform the proper movement

THALAMUS ANATOMY AND FUNCTION NEURO PHYSIOLOGY: Note #11 3 of 4

 III) RECAP
Table 2: Recap
Group Nucleus Afferent(s) Efferent(s) System
Mammillary bodies (MTT) Cingulate and parahippocampal Limbic system
Anterior Anterior
gyrus
Olfactory cortex Prefrontal cortex Limbic system
Medial Medial dorsal Amygdala
Hypothalamus

Basal ganglia, dentate nucleus Primary motor cortex Motor system

Ventral
o Ventral
Basal ganglia Premotor cortex Motor system
anterior
o Ventral
Trigeminothalamic tract Primary somatosensory cortex Sensory system
lateral
Dorsal column system, Primary somatosensory cortex Sensory system
o VPM
spinothalamic tract
o VPL
Inferior brachium (auditory Primary auditory cortex Sensory system
Lateral pathway)
o Medial
geniculate
Optic tract Primary visual cortex Sensory system
nucleus
o Lateral
geniculate
nucleus
Medial geniculate nucleus Visual association area Sensory system
Dorsal Lateral geniculate nucleus
o Pulvinar Superior colliculus
Inferior colliculus
Spinothalamic pathway Nonspecific areas (cingulate Limbic system
Intralaminar Centromedian
gyrus)

a) Pulvinar
IV) QUESTIONS b) Ventral anterior nucleus
c) Lateral geniculate nucleus
1) Question 1: regarding the Papez circuit?
a) It’s important for emotional episodic memory V) REFERENCES
b) It passes through the caudate nucleus
c) It passes through the Pulvinar
● Drake, Richard L, Wayne Vogl, Adam W. M. Mitchell, and
2) Question 2: what is the function of the medial dorsal
Henry Gray. Gray's Anatomy for Students. Philadelphia:
nuclei?
a) Coordination and Modulation of motor movements Elsevier/Churchill Livingstone, 2005. Print.

b) Contains the emotional aspect of memory and is

involved in a person’s drive and motivation
c) Applies an emotional component to pain sensations
3) Question 3: which of the following is part on the
Central Visual pathway?

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