Summary
Two-shock inhibition, a feature of 98 of 100 P cells recorded in the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus of the normal rat, was not observed in 91 of 140 geniculate cells after an electrolytic lesion had been made in the adjacent visually responsive thalamic reticular nucleus. Nine geniculate cells recorded both before and after a reticular lesion had their initial inhibition abolished or substantially reduced after the lesion. The reticular lesion eliminated the bursts of spikes which normally terminate periods of inhibition following electrical or photic stimulation but caused no other changes in receptive field organization of geniculate cells. We conclude that the visually responsive region of the thalamic reticular nucleus in the rat is responsible for the profound two-shock inhibition and for the post-inhibitory bursts which are normal properties of relay cells of the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ahlsén G, Lindström S, Lo F-S (1982) Functional distinction of perigeniculate and thalamic reticular neurons in the cat. Exp Brain Res 16: 118–126
Ahlsén G, Lindström S, Lo F-S (1984) Inhibition from the brain stem of inhibitory interneurones of the cat's lateral geniculate nucleus. J Physiol (Lond) 347: 593–609
Ahlsén G, Lo F-S (1982) Projection of brain stem neurons to the perigeniculate nucleus and the lateral geniculate nucleus in the cat. Brain Res 238: 433–438
Anderson KV, Lemmon V, Rosing HS (1977) Response properties of cells in the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus of the albino rat. J Neurosci Res 3: 143–152
Brown DA, Griffith WH (1983) Calcium activated current in voltage-clamped hippocampal neurones of the guinea-pig. J Physiol (Lond) 337: 287–301
Burke W, Cole A (1979) Extraretinal influences on the lateral geniculate nucleus. Rev Physiol Biochem Pharmacol 80: 105–166
Burke W, Sefton A (1966a) Discharge patterns of principal cells and interneurones in lateral geniculate nucleus of rat. J Physiol (Lond) 187: 201–212
Burke W, Sefton A (1966b) Recovery of responsiveness of cells of lateral geniculate nucleus of rat. J Physiol (Lond) 187: 213–229
Burke W, Sefton A (1966c) Inhibitory mechanisms in lateral geniculate nucleus of rat. J Physiol (Lond) 187: 231–246
Cleland BG, Dubin MW, Levick WR (1971) Sustained and transient neurones in the cat's retina and lateral geniculate nucleus. J Physiol (Lond) 217: 473–496
Dubin MW, Cleland BG (1977) Organization of visual inputs to interneurons of lateral geniculate nucleus of the cat. J Neurophysiol 40: 410–427
Fourment A, Hirsch JC, Chastanet JC, Guidet C (1983) The effect of midbrain reticular stimulation upon perigeniculate neurons activity during different states of the sleep-waking cycle in the cat. Brain Res 259: 301–307
French CR, Sefton AJ, Mackay-Sim A (1979) Abolition of two-shock inhibition of geniculo-cortical relay cells by a lesion in the thalamic reticular nucleus of the rat. Proc Aust Physiol Pharmacol Soc 10: 119P
Fukuda Y, Iwama K (1971) Reticular inhibition of internuncial cells in the rat lateral geniculate body. Brain Res 35: 107–118
Fukuda Y, Sumitomo I, Sugitani M, Iwama K (1979) Receptive-field properties of cells in the dorsal part of the albino rat's lateral geniculate nucleus. Jpn J Physiol 29: 283–307
Fuster JM, Creutzfeldt OD, Straschill M (1965) Intracellular recording of neuronal activity in the visual system. Z Vergl Physiol 49: 605–622
Godfraind J-M, Kelly J S (1981) Intracellular recording from thin slices of the lateral geniculate nucleus of rats and cats. In Kerkutt GA, Wheal HV (eds) Electrophysiology of isolated mammalian CNS preparations. Academic Press, London, pp 257–284
Hale PT, Sefton AJ (1978) A comparison of the visual and electrical response properties of cells in the dorsal and ventral lateral geniculate nuclei. Brain Res 153: 591–595
Hale PT, Sefton AJ, Baur LA, Cottee LJ (1982) Interrelations of the rat's thalamic reticular and dorsal lateral geniculate nuclei. Exp Brain Res 45: 217–229
Hale PT, Sefton AJ, Dreher B (1979) A correlation of receptive field properties with conduction velocity of cells in the rat's retino-geniculo-cortical pathway. Exp Brain Res 35: 425–442
Hodgkin AL, Huxley AF (1952) A quantitative description of membraine current and its application to conduction and excitation in nerve. J Physiol (Lond) 117: 500–544
Hoffmann K-P, Stone J, Sherman SM (1972) The relay of receptive field properties in the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus of the cat. J Neurophysiol 35: 516–531
Houser CR, Vaughn JE, Barber RP, Roberts E (1980) GABA neurons are the major cell type of the nucleus reticularis thalami. Brain Res 200: 341–354
Jahnsen H, Llinás R (1984a) Electrophysiological properties of guinea-pig thalamic neurones: an in vitro study. J Physiol (Lond) 349: 205–226
Jahnsen H, Llinás R (1984b) Ionic basis for the electroresponsiveness and oscillatory properties of guinea-pig thalamic neurones. J Physiol (Lond) 349: 227–247
Jones EG (1983) The thalamus. In: Emson EC (eds) Chemical neuroanatomy. Raven Press, New York, pp 257–293
Kayama Y, Negi T, Sugitani M, Iwama K (1982) Effects of locus coeruleus stimulation on neuronal activities of dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus and perigeniculate reticular nucleus of the rat. Neuroscience 7: 655–666
Kayama Y, Shosaku A, Doty RW (1984) Cryogenic blockade of the visual cortico-thalamic projection in the rat. Exp Brain Res 54: 157–165
Kelly JS, Godfraind JM, Marukyami S (1979) The presence and nature of inhibition in small slices of the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus of rat and cat incubated in vitro. Brain Res 168: 388–392
Kriebel RM (1975) Neurons of the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus of the albino rat. J Comp Neurol 159: 45–68
Lieberman AR, Webster KE (1974) Aspects of the synaptic organization of intrinsic neurons in the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus. An ultrastructural study of the normal and of the experimentally deafferented nucleus in the rat. J Neurocytol 3: 677–710
Lo F-S (1981) Synaptic organization of the lateral geniculate nucleus of the rabbit: lack of feed-forward inhibition. Brain Res 221: 387–392
Lo F-S (1983) Both fast and slow relay cells in lateral geniculate nucleus of rabbits receive recurrent inhibition. Brain Res 271: 335–338
Mackay-Sim A, Sefton A, Martin P (1983) Subcortical projections to lateral geniculate and thalamic reticular nuclei in the hooded rat. J Comp Neurol 213: 24–35
Marks GA, Stabrowski K, Roffwarg HP (1983) Disinhibition of dorsal lateral geniculate neurons following lesion of the thalamic reticular nucleus. Soc Neurosci Abstr 9: 815
Mathews MA (1973) Death of the central neuron: an electron microscopic study of thalamic retrograde degeneration following cortical ablation. J Neurocytol 2: 265–288
Molotchnikoff S, Tremblay F, Lepore F (1984) The role of the visual cortex in response properties of lateral geniculate cells in rats. Exp Brain Res 53: 223–232
Montero VM, Scott GL (1981) Synaptic terminals in the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus from neurons of the thalamic reticular nucleus: a light and electron microscope autoradiographic study. Neuroscience 6: 2561–2577
Ohara PT, Lieberman AR (1980) Relationships between cerebral cortex, thalamic reticular nucleus and dorsal thalamus, investigated by a combination of retrograde and anterograde labelling with horseradish peroxidase, experimental degeneration and electron microscopy. J Anat (Lond) 132: 462–463
Ohara PT, Lieberman AR (1981) Thalamic reticular nucleus: anatomical evidence that cortico-reticular axons establish monosynaptic contact with reticulo-geniculate projection cells. Brain Res 207: 153–156
Ohara PT, Lieberman AR, Hunt SP, Wu J-C (1983) Neural elements containing glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD) in the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus of the rat: immunohistochemical studies by light microscopy. Neuroscience 8: 189–211
Ohara PT, Sefton AJ, Lieberman AR (1980) Mode of termination of afferents from the thalamic reticular nucleus in the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus of the rat. Brain Res 197: 503–506
O'Sullivan BT, Watson JDG, Burke W (1976) Nerve pathways concerned with inhibition in the lateral geniculate nucleus. Proc Aust Physiol Pharmacol Soc 7: 47P
Partridge LD, Brown JE (1970) Receptive fields of rat retinal ganglion cells. Vision Res 10: 455–460
Paxinos G, Watson CR (1982) The rat brain in stereotaxic coordinates. Academic Press, Sydney, 153 pp
Pollin B, Rokyta R (1982) Somatotopic organization of nucleus reticularis thalami in chronic awake cats and monkeys. Brain Res 250: 211–221
Schmielau F (1979) Integration of visual and nonvisual information in nucleus reticularis thalami of the cat. In Freeman RD (eds) Developmental neurophysiology of vision. Plenum Press, New York, pp 205–226
Sefton AJ, Bruce ISC (1971) Properties of cells in the lateral geniculate nucleus. Vision Res Suppl 3: 239–252
Sefton AJ, Dreher B (1985) The visual system. In Paxinos G (eds) The rat nervous system. I Forebrain and midbrain. Academic Press, Sydney (in press)
Sefton AJ, Mackay-Sim A, Baur LA, Cottee LJ (1981) Cortical projections to visual centres in the rat: an HRP study. Brain Res 215: 1–13
Sefton AJ, Swinburn M (1964) Electrical activity of lateral geniculate nucleus and optic tract of the rat. Vision Res 4: 315–328
Shosaku A, Sumitomo I (1983) Auditory neurons in the rat thalamic reticular nucleus. Exp Brain Res 499: 432–442
Singer W (1977) Control of thalamic transmission by corticofugal and ascending reticular pathways in the visual system. Physiol Rev 57: 386–420
Singer W, Pöppel E, Creutzfeldt OD (1972) Inhibitory interaction in the cat's lateral geniculate nucleus. Exp Brain Res 14: 210–226
Stevens JK, Gerstein GL (1976a) Spatio-temporal organization of cat lateral geniculate receptive fields. J Neurophysiol 39: 213–238
Stevens JK, Gerstein GL (1976b) Interactions between cat lateral geniculate neurons. J Neurophysiol 39: 234–256
Sugitani M (1979) Electrophysiological and sensory properties of the thalamic reticular neurones related to somatic sensation in rats. J Physiol (Lond) 290: 79–95
Sumitomo I, Iwama K (1977) Some properties of intrinsic neurons of the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus of the rat. Jpn J Physiol 27: 717–730
Sumitomo I, Nakamura M, Iwama K (1976) Location and function of the so-called interneurons of rat lateral geniculate body. Exp Neurol 51: 110–123
Sumitomo I, Sugitani M, Fukuda Y, Iwama K (1979) Properties of cells responding to visual stimuli in the rat ventral lateral geniculate nucleus. Exp Neurol 66: 721–736
Szentágothai J (1974) Neuronal and synaptic architecture of the lateral geniculate nucleus. In Jung R (eds) Handbook of sensory physiology, VII3 B. Springer, Berlin, pp 141–176
Waring MD (1979) Is reticular facilitation of lateral geniculate transmission due to inhibition of maintained firing of I-cells? Exp Neurol 65: 498–510
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
French, C.R., Sefton, A.J. & Mackay-Sim, A. The inhibitory role of the visually responsive region of the thalamic reticular nucleus in the rat. Exp Brain Res 57, 471–479 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00237834
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00237834