Where is the thalamus located anatomically

Learn more about its…. The body of fornix joins the hippocampus and mammillary bodies, structures in the base of the brain that are involved in memory formation and recall…. The fornix commissure is a thin, triangular sheet of transverse horizontal fibers.

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It is involved in a very complex feedback loop that prepares and aids in movement of the…. In the brain, oxygenated blood travels through an extensive and central cerebral arterial circle. This network is called the circle of Willis. The jejunum is one of three sections that make up the small intestine.

This is thought to aid in relaying visual information to guide precise movements as well as relaying visual information to the amygdala. These nuclei are important for relaying auditory and visual information, respectively. The lateral geniculate nucleus receives visual information from the retinas of the eyes, which projects to the visual cortex of the occipital lobe. The medial geniculate nucleus receives auditory information from the inferior colliculus a part of the midbrain that is the main auditory center and projects this to the primary auditory cortex within the temporal lobe.

The reticular nucleus forms a sheet that makes the outer covering of the thalamus and can influence the activity of other nuclei within the thalamus.

The reticular nucleus receives input from the cerebral cortex as well as the dorsal thalamic nuclei. This is the only nucleus of the thalamus that does not project out to the cerebral cortex, but instead modulates the information from other nuclei in the thalamus. Since the thalamus acts as a relay station from which it sends input and receives output from many brain structures, damage to this area can impact many brain functions. As the thalamus plays a key role in the sleep-wake regulation, damage to this area has been implicated in consciousness related disorders, as well as resulting in individuals being in a coma.

Due to the thalamus being important for generating normal sleep thalamocortical rhythms, sleep disorders may result from damage such as insomnia. Language deficits because of thalamic damage, known as thalamic aphasia, can result in difficulties with lexical semantics. Similarly, this can cause verbal paraphasia, which is a speech disturbance, presenting as jumbled up words or meaningless speech.

Disorders of the thalamus can also manifest itself in the form of sensory loss, movement disorders, pain syndromes, and visual disorders. A stroke is a common cause for many disorders of the thalamus.

Thalamic pain syndrome can occur when there are disturbances in one of the pathways of the thalamus which affects the sensation of temperature following a stroke. This can result in tingling or burning pain, as well as discomfort with temperature changes. Months after having a thalamic stroke, this can eventually lead to severe chronic pain. Stokes of the thalamus have also found to produce symptoms of uncoordinated involuntary movements of the body due to affecting the pathways associated with motor movements.

It has been found that patients with schizophrenia had significantly less thalamic volume in comparison to those without schizophrenia Coscia et al. Reduced thalamic size was suggested to be correlated with worse neuropsychological functioning and specific deficits in language, motor, and executive skills. This implies that the differences in thalamic structure are significantly related to some of the symptoms of schizophrenia.

Another study was conducted to investigate the thalamic differences in those with Autism. It has also been found that there was non-typical thalamic connectivity in the temporal and motor areas of those with autism Woodward et al. Olivia has been working as a support worker for adults with learning disabilities in Bristol for the last four years. Guy-Evans, O. Simply Psychology. Coscia, D. Human brain mapping, 30 4 , Crumbie, L. Gummadavelli, A. Thalamus is involved in sensory as well as motor functions of the brain.

It is the part of the brain where the sensory information from all over the body converge and are then sent to various areas of the cortex. It also helps the motor cortex for coordinated voluntary movements of the part.

Thus, it has an important role in motor cognition. In this article, we will discuss the anatomical features such as location, structure, and nuclei as well as input and output fibers of the thalamus.

We will also discuss physiological as well as the clinical significance of thalamus. The anatomical details such as topography or location, structure and nuclei, input and output fibers as well as blood supply of thalamus. Thalamus is a part of the diencephalon. It is located deep in the forebrain, present just above the midbrain.

One thalamus is present on each side of the third ventricle. Its anterior part forms the posterior boundary of interventricular foramen. The posterior end is expanded and forms a structure called pulvinar.

The pulvinar of thalamus overhangs the superior colliculus. The inferior surface of the thalamus is continuous with the tegmentum of midbrain. Thalamus is an egg-shaped mass of grey matter. It also contains white matter to some extent. On the superior surface, thalamus is covered by a thin layer of white matter. This layer of white matter is called stratum zonale. The lateral surface of the thalamus is also covered by a layer of white matter called external medullary lamina.

Another sheet of white matter divides the grey matter of thalamus into three regions. It is a Y-shaped sheet of white matter called internal medullary lamina. The grey matter is divided by the internal medullary lamina into anterior, medial and lateral parts. Each of these parts along with other associated nuclei are discussed in the subsequent headings.

The anterior part contains anterior thalamic nuclei. These nuclei are a part of the mammillothalamic tract. They have the following connections:. It receives and sends fibers to the prefrontal cortex, hypothalamus and thalamic. It also sends and receives fibers from all other nuclei of thalamus. These include lateral dorsal nucleus , lateral posterior nucleus and the pulvinar.

All these nuclei have connections with other nuclei of thalamus, parietal lobe, cingulate gyrus, occipital, and temporal lobes. Ventral anterior nucleus : This nucleus has connections with the reticular formation, substantia nigra, corpus striatum, and premotor cortex.