Topographic representation of the receptor surface is a fundamental feature of sensory cortical organization. This is imparted by the thalamus, which relays information from the periphery to the cortex. To better understand the rules governing thalamocortical connectivity and the origin of cortical maps, we used in vivo two-photon calcium imaging to characterize the properties of thalamic axons...

The neural cell adhesion molecule L1 has been found to play important roles in axon growth and fasciculation. Our main objective was to determine the role of L1 during the development of connections between thalamus and cortex. We find that thalamocortical and corticothalamic axons in mice lacking L1 are hyperfasciculated, a subset of thalamocortical axons make pathfinding errors and thalamocor...

The thalamocortical network consists of the pathways that interconnect the thalamus and neocortex, including thalamic sensory afferents, corticothalamic and thalamocortical pathways. These pathways are essential to acquire, analyze, store and retrieve sensory information. However, sensory information processing mostly occurs during behavioral arousal, when activity in thalamus and neocortex con...

There is ample evidence that the occipital cortex of congenitally blind individuals processes nonvisual information. It remains a debate whether the cross-modal activation of the occipital cortex is mediated through the modulation of preexisting corticocortical projections or the reorganisation of thalamocortical connectivity. Current knowledge on this topic largely stems from anatomical studie...

GABA-releasing cortical interneurons are crucial for the neural transformations underlying sensory perception, providing "feedforward" inhibition that constrains the temporal window for synaptic integration. To mediate feedforward inhibition, inhibitory interneurons need to fire in response to ascending thalamocortical inputs, and most previous studies concluded that ascending inputs activate m...

The organization of the whisker representation within the neocortex of the rat is dependent on an intact periphery during development. To further investigate how alterations in this cortical map arise we examined the organization of thalamocortical afferents to the whisker representation in adult animals in which the infraorbital branch of the trigeminal nerve was cut on the day of birth. The d...

OBJECTIVE We describe here a patient with intracerebral haemorrhage who showed recovery of an injured medial lemniscus and its related thalamocortical pathway on follow- up diffusion tensor tractography. CASE REPORT A 48-year-old man presented with right hemiplegia following a spontaneous intracerebral haemorrhage in the left corona radiata and basal ganglia. He underwent conservative managem...

In unconscious status (e.g., deep sleep and anesthetic unconsciousness) where cognitive functions are not generated there is still a significant level of brain activity present. Indeed, the electrophysiology of the unconscious brain is characterized by well-defined thalamocortical rhythmicity. Here we address the ionic basis for such thalamocortical rhythms during unconsciousness. In particular...