Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Dolleman-van der Weel, M.J.
• Witter, M.P.

Titel

The thalamic midline nucleus reuniens: potential relevance for schizophrenia and epilepsy

Ist Teil von

• Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews, 2020-12, Vol.119, p.422-439

Ort / Verlag

United States: Elsevier Ltd

Erscheinungsjahr

2020

Quelle

Elsevier ScienceDirect Journals

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• •Summarize the connectivity of the nucleus reuniens of the thalamus with the hippocampal region and the prefrontal cortex.•Review functional data from animal studies, complemented with sparse data obtained in humans.•Review the relevance of nucleus reuniens during brain development and in later life, in both epilepsy and schizophrenia.•Describe mechanisms through which RE may contribute to disease development and manifestation.•Review susceptibility for well-known genetic and environmental risk factors for developmental diseases. Anatomical, electrophysiological and behavioral studies in rodents have shown that the thalamic midline nucleus reuniens (RE) is a crucial link in the communication between hippocampal formation (HIP, i.e., CA1, subiculum) and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), important structures for cognitive and executive functions. A common feature in neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative brain diseases is a dysfunctional connectivity/communication between HIP and mPFC, and disturbances in the cognitive domain. Therefore, it is assumed that aberrant functioning of RE may contribute to behavioral/cognitive impairments in brain diseases characterized by cortico-thalamo-hippocampal circuit dysfunctions. In the human brain the connections of RE are largely unknown. Yet, recent studies have found important similarities in the functional connectivity of HIP-mPFC-RE in humans and rodents, making cautious extrapolating experimental findings from animal models to humans justifiable. The focus of this review is on a potential involvement of RE in schizophrenia and epilepsy.