美国国立心理健康研究所Mario A. Penzo研究组近日取得一项新成果。他们的研究发现两种在遗传、解剖学和功能上截然不同的细胞类型，沿室旁丘脑的前后轴分离。2020年1月13日，《自然—神经科学》在线发表了这项成果。
研究人员探究了丘脑室旁核（PVT）组织的功能，丘脑的丘脑中线结构日益被认为控制小鼠中各种过程（如唤醒、压力、情绪记忆和动机）的关键节点。研究人员发现了两种主要类型的PVT神经元，分别称为I型和II型，它们在基因表达、解剖结构和功能方面有所不同。此外，研究人员还证明了II型神经元属于一类先前被忽略的PVT神经元类，该类PVT神经元将唤醒相关信息传递至下肢皮质的皮质丘脑神经元。该研究结果揭示觉醒调节的丘脑-皮质丘脑循环如何连接PVT和腹膜前额叶皮层。
据介绍，与丘脑感觉接替核不同，对中线和丘脑板内核组织功能的研究却很少，这是由于难以建立该大脑区域功能感知模型。
附：英文原文
Title: Two genetically, anatomically and functionally distinct cell types segregate across anteroposterior axis of paraventricular thalamus
Author: Claire Gao, Yan Leng, Jun Ma, Victoria Rooke, Shakira Rodriguez-Gonzalez, Charu Ramakrishnan, Karl Deisseroth, Mario A. Penzo
Issue&Volume: 2020-01-13
Abstract: Unlike the sensory thalamus, studies on the functional organization of the midline and intralaminar nuclei are scarce, and this has hindered the establishment of conceptual models of the function of this brain region. We investigated the functional organization of the paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus (PVT), a midline thalamic structure that is increasingly being recognized as a critical node in the control of diverse processes such as arousal, stress, emotional memory and motivation, in mice. We identify two major classes of PVT neurons—termed type I and type II—that differ in terms of gene expression, anatomy and function. In addition, we demonstrate that type II neurons belong to a previously neglected class of PVT neurons that convey arousal-related information to corticothalamic neurons of the infralimbic cortex. Our results uncover the existence of an arousal-modulated thalamo-corticothalamic loop that links the PVT and the ventromedial prefrontal cortex.
DOI: 10.1038/s41593-019-0572-3
Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41593-019-0572-3
Nature Neuroscience：《自然—神经科学》，创刊于1998年。隶属于施普林格·自然出版集团，最新IF：28.771
官方网址：https://www.nature.com/neuro/
投稿链接：https://mts-nn.nature.com/cgi-bin/main.plex
本期文章：《自然—神经科学》：Online/在线发表
