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Psychiatry Research Sep 2023Identifying objective biological subtypes that predict long-term functional outcomes is crucial for understanding neurobiological mechanisms and identifying potential...
Identifying objective biological subtypes that predict long-term functional outcomes is crucial for understanding neurobiological mechanisms and identifying potential targets. Using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data from 178 patients and 70 controls, we explored social function patterns using latent profile analysis. Long-term outcomes were compared among the biological subtypes using K-means clustering. Partial least squares regression (PLSR) was used to identify gene expression profiles associated with alterations in activity by leveraging transcriptional data from the Allen Human Brain Atlas. In patients with more functional impairment, left medial pulvinar (PM) exhibited significantly lower regional homogeneity of brain activity (ReHo, [95% CI (0.06-0.27), P = 0.002), a finding validated in the independent cohort. Functional connectivity between PM and secondary visual cortex displayed a suggestive decrease. Patients belonging to "higher pulvinar ReHo - better information processing" demonstrated better long-term outcomes and acute treatment response [95% CI (11.2-34.4), P < 0.001]. The PLSR component of imaging-transcriptomic associations partly explained the ReHo differences among patients with varying levels of functional impairment. It revealed enrichment of genes in the synaptic signaling pathway. Pathological changes in the pulvinar may affect social functioning. Higher pulvinar ReHo and better information processing, two objective biomarkers, have a predictive value for better long-term functional outcomes.
Topics: Humans; Schizophrenia; Pulvinar; Brain; Cluster Analysis; Cognition
PubMed: 37598626
DOI: 10.1016/j.psychres.2023.115419 -
Neuropsychology Mar 2015Recent models on emotional processing consider a major role for the pulvinar in the coordination of emotion processing; however, these models do not specify the type of... (Review)
Review
OBJECTIVES
Recent models on emotional processing consider a major role for the pulvinar in the coordination of emotion processing; however, these models do not specify the type of cognitive mechanisms that the pulvinar may be subserving during emotional processing. In this opinion paper, we focus on the role of the different pulvinar subdivisions in emotion and attention. First, we review a number of neuropsychology studies and recent models that indicate that the medial nucleus of the pulvinar is critical for intact emotional processing. Then, we suggest that the role of the medial pulvinar in emotional processing is binding emotionally relevant features during working memory updating.
METHOD
We carefully examined reports that describe different cognitive impairments following lesions to different pulvinar subdivisions.
RESULTS
By linking these detailed neuropsychology reports to recent neuroimaging findings, we show that lesions to specific parts of the pulvinar can dramatically affect attentional processes while leaving emotion processing spared.
CONCLUSIONS
We suggest a comprehensive model that specifies the functional role of the different pulvinar subdivisions in emotion-attention interplay. We propose that the impairments in emotional processing following lesions to the medial pulvinar may be related to the role of this nucleus in emotionally relevant working memory updating. The aim of this model is to foster future research examining specific functions along the different anatomical pulvinar subdivisions.
Topics: Attention; Emotions; Functional Neuroimaging; Humans; Memory, Short-Term; Pulvinar
PubMed: 25180982
DOI: 10.1037/neu0000139 -
Advances in Anatomy, Embryology, and... 2018Pulvinar connectivity has been studied using a variety of neuroanatomical tracing techniques in both New and Old World monkeys. Connectivity studies have revealed...
Pulvinar connectivity has been studied using a variety of neuroanatomical tracing techniques in both New and Old World monkeys. Connectivity studies have revealed additional maps of the visual field other than those described using electrophysiological techniques, such as P3 in the capuchin monkey and P3/P4 in the macaque monkey. In this chapter, we argue that with increasing cortical size, the pulvinar developed new functional subdivisions in order to effectively interconnect and interact with the cortex.
Topics: Animals; Cebus; Pulvinar; Visual Cortex; Visual Fields; Visual Pathways
PubMed: 29116446
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-70046-5_5 -
World Neurosurgery May 2020The thalamus is a deep cerebral structure that is crucial for proper neurological functioning as it transmits signals from nearly all pathways in the body. Insult to the... (Review)
Review
The thalamus is a deep cerebral structure that is crucial for proper neurological functioning as it transmits signals from nearly all pathways in the body. Insult to the thalamus can, therefore, result in complex syndromes involving sensation, cognition, executive function, fine motor control, emotion, and arousal, to name a few. Specific territories in the thalamus that are supplied by deep cerebral arteries have been shown to correlate with clinical symptoms. The aim of this review is to enhance our understanding of the arterial anatomy of the thalamus and the complications that can arise from lesions to it by considering the functions of known thalamic nuclei supplied by each vascular territory.
Topics: Anterior Thalamic Nuclei; Basilar Artery; Brain Infarction; Circle of Willis; Geniculate Bodies; Humans; Lateral Thalamic Nuclei; Mediodorsal Thalamic Nucleus; Posterior Cerebral Artery; Pulvinar; Thalamus; Ventral Thalamic Nuclei
PubMed: 32036065
DOI: 10.1016/j.wneu.2020.01.237 -
Trends in Neurosciences Jan 2000The pulvinar nuclei of the thalamus are proportionately larger in higher mammals, particularly in primates, and account for a quarter of the total mass. Traditionally,... (Review)
Review
The pulvinar nuclei of the thalamus are proportionately larger in higher mammals, particularly in primates, and account for a quarter of the total mass. Traditionally, these nuclei have been divided into oral (somatosensory), superior and inferior (both visual) and medial (visual, multi-sensory) divisions. With reciprocal connections to vast areas of cerebral cortex, and input from the colliculus and retina, they occupy an analogous position in the extra-striate visual system to the lateral geniculate nucleus in the primary visual pathway, but deal with higher-order visual and visuomotor transduction. With a renewed recent interest in this thalamic nuclear collection, and growth in our knowledge of the cortex with which it communicates, perhaps the time is right to look to new dimensions in the pulvinar code.
Topics: Animals; Behavior, Animal; Models, Neurological; Motor Cortex; Nerve Net; Primates; Pulvinar; Signal Transduction; Thalamic Nuclei; Vision, Ocular; Visual Pathways
PubMed: 10631787
DOI: 10.1016/s0166-2236(99)01482-4 -
Journal of Clinical Neuroscience :... May 2022To compare the area of exposure to the cisternal thalamus associated with four surgical techniques: supracerebellar-infratentorial (SCIT), occipital interhemispheric...
OBJECTIVE
To compare the area of exposure to the cisternal thalamus associated with four surgical techniques: supracerebellar-infratentorial (SCIT), occipital interhemispheric (OI), transchoroidal (TC) and subtemporal before and after parahippocampal resection (ST and STh, respectively).
METHODS
All approaches were performed on both sides of three heads. Qualitative anatomical analyses were performed to understand anatomical limits, advantages, and flaws of each technique. Quantitative analyses for multiple repeated dependent variables assessed significant differences between areas of exposure.
RESULTS
Exposure area was significantly more extensive using TC and STh approaches compared to ST, OI, and SCIT. STh achieved a significantly wider exposure compared to ST. Regarding dissection angle, surrounding structures and limitations, ST approaches do not provide adequate exposure, nor alignment with the thalamic axis. The OI and STh may provide a better field of exposure, but without adequate alignment and challenging deeper dissections. TC provides better exposure of the cisternal pulvinar with access to lateral pulvinar at the atrium's anterior wall but is a transcortical route that disrupts non-pathological tissue. SCIT provides an adequate area of exposure with the possibility of alignment with the thalamus axis, thus allowing an easier dissection of deeper lesions.
CONCLUSIONS
For lesions at the pulvinar surface, OI and STh are adequate. For lesions restricted to medial pulvinar and deep along the thalamus axis, SCIT approaches are recommended. Lesions extending to the lateral pulvinar and ventricular atrium are best removed through TC approaches. The ST approach was not suitable to the cisternal pulvinar due to its limited angular exposure.
Topics: Cadaver; Humans; Microsurgery; Neurosurgical Procedures; Pulvinar; Thalamus
PubMed: 35298942
DOI: 10.1016/j.jocn.2022.03.016 -
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal... Oct 2003The pulvinar is an 'associative' thalamic nucleus, meaning that most of its input and output relationships are formed with the cerebral cortex. The function of this... (Review)
Review
The pulvinar is an 'associative' thalamic nucleus, meaning that most of its input and output relationships are formed with the cerebral cortex. The function of this circuitry is little understood and its anatomy, though much investigated, is notably recondite. This is because pulvinar connection patterns disrespect the architectural subunits (anterior, medial, lateral and inferior pulvinar nuclei) that have been the traditional reference system. This article presents a simplified, global model of the organization of cortico-pulvinar connections so as to pursue their structure-function relationships. Connections between the cortex and pulvinar are topographically organized, and as a result the pulvinar contains a 'map' of the cortical sheet. However, the topography is very blurred. Hence the pulvinar connection zones of nearby cortical areas overlap, allowing indirect transcortical communication via the pulvinar. A general observation is that indirect cortico-pulvino-cortical circuits tend to mimic direct cortico-cortical pathways: this is termed 'the replication principle'. It is equally apt for certain pairs (or groups) of nearby cortical areas that happen not to connect with each other. The 'replication' of this non-connection is achieved by discontinuities and dislocations of the cortical topography within the pulvinar, such that the associated pair of connection zones do not overlap. Certain of these deformations can be used to divide the global cortical topography into specific sub-domains, which form the natural units of a connectional subdivision of the pulvinar. A substantial part of the pulvinar also expresses visual topography, reflecting visual maps in occipital cortex. There are just two well-ordered visual maps in the pulvinar, that both receive projections from area V1, and several other occipital areas; the resulting duplication of cortical topography means that each visual map also acts as a separate connection domain. In summary, the model identifies four topographically ordered connection domains, and reconciles the coexistence of visual and cortical maps in two of them. The replication principle operates at and below the level of domain structure. It is argued that cortico-pulvinar circuitry replicates the pattern of cortical circuitry but not its function, playing a more regulatory role instead. Thalamic neurons differ from cortical neurons in their inherent rhythmicity, and the pattern of cortico-thalamic connections must govern the formation of specific resonant circuits. The broad implication is that the pulvinar acts to coordinate cortical information processing by facilitating and sustaining the formation of synchronized trans-areal assemblies; a more pointed suggestion is that, owing to the considerable blurring of cortical topography in the pulvinar, rival cortical assemblies may be in competition to recruit thalamic elements in order to outlast each other in activity.
Topics: Brain Mapping; Cerebral Cortex; Cortical Synchronization; Humans; Models, Neurological; Neural Pathways; Neurochemistry; Pulvinar
PubMed: 14561322
DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2002.1213 -
Neuron Aug 2021Animals must rapidly respond to threats to survive. In rodents, threat-related signals are processed through a subcortical pathway from the superior colliculus to the...
Animals must rapidly respond to threats to survive. In rodents, threat-related signals are processed through a subcortical pathway from the superior colliculus to the amygdala, a putative "low road" to affective behavior. This pathway has not been well characterized in humans. We developed a novel pathway identification framework that uses pattern recognition to identify connected neural populations and optimize measurement of inter-region connectivity. We first verified that the model identifies known thalamocortical pathways with high sensitivity and specificity in 7 T (n = 56) and 3 T (n = 48) fMRI experiments. Then we identified a human functional superior colliculus-pulvinar-amygdala pathway. Activity in this pathway encodes the intensity of normative emotional responses to negative images and sounds but not pleasant images or painful stimuli. These results provide a functional description of a human "low road" pathway selective for negative exteroceptive events and demonstrate a promising method for characterizing human functional brain pathways.
Topics: Amygdala; Emotions; Humans; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Neural Pathways; Pulvinar; Superior Colliculi
PubMed: 34166604
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2021.06.001 -
Advances in Neurobiology 2023Adult-onset idiopathic focal dystonias (AOIFD) are the most common type of dystonia. It has varied expression including multiple motor (depending on body part affected)...
Adult-onset idiopathic focal dystonias (AOIFD) are the most common type of dystonia. It has varied expression including multiple motor (depending on body part affected) and non-motor symptoms (psychiatric, cognitive and sensory). The motor symptoms are usually the main reason for presentation and are most often treated with botulinum toxin. However, non-motor symptoms are the main predictors of quality of life and should be addressed appropriately, as well as treating the motor disorder. Rather than considering AOIFD as a movement disorder, a syndromic approach should be taken, one that accommodates all the symptoms. Dysfunction of the collicular-pulvinar-amygdala axis, with the superior colliculus as a central node, can explain the diverse expression of this syndrome.
Topics: Adult; Humans; Pulvinar; Quality of Life; Dystonic Disorders; Movement Disorders; Amygdala
PubMed: 37338703
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-26220-3_11 -
Advances in Anatomy, Embryology, and... 2018The pulvinar can be subdivided into well-delimitated regions based on chemoarchitectural, cytoarchitectural, myeloarchitectural, connectivity, and electrophysiological...
The pulvinar can be subdivided into well-delimitated regions based on chemoarchitectural, cytoarchitectural, myeloarchitectural, connectivity, and electrophysiological criteria. Subdivisions of the pulvinar based on its chemoarchitectural features are the most consistently preserved across species of New and Old World monkeys. It is reasonable to speculate that the occurrence and distribution of calcium-binding proteins in the pulvinar, such as calbindin and parvalbumin, have been preserved along evolution. Therefore, they have proven to be valuable tools capable of probing the basic pulvinar scaffold across primate species. Along this review, we will provide an overview of the available data regarding the various subdivisions of the pulvinar that have been proposed based on architectural criteria such as the distribution of molecular markers, neuronal morphology, and fiber layout.
PubMed: 29116442
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-70046-5_1