Some sources also include a "central dorsal" nucleus.
Afferents
Midline intralaminar nuclei receive afferents from the brain stem, spinal cord, and cerebellum. Connections with the cerebral cortex and basal nuclei are reciprocal. Afferents from the spinothalamic tract as well as periaqueductal gray are part of a pathway involved in pain processing.[3]
Efferents
The intralaminar nuclei project efferents to the hypothalamus, amygdala, and limbic lobe.[4]
Function
The ITN are thought to be involved in mediating arousal, affective, autonomic responses to pain.[4]
This area is also prominently affected in traumatic brain injuries. One postmortem study of patients with closed head injuries showed correlation of the involvement of these nuclei with the various degrees of disability.[6][7]
^ abMancall, E., Brock, D. & Gray, H. (2011). Gray's clinical neuroanatomy the anatomic basis for clinical neuroscience. Philadelphia: Elsevier/Saunders.
^ abRopper, Allan H.; Samuels, Martin A.; Klein, Joshua; Prasad, Sashank (2023). Adams and Victor's Principles of Neurology (12th ed.). New York: McGraw Hill. p. 140. ISBN978-1-264-26453-7.
^Henderson JM, Carpenter K, Cartwright H, Halliday GM (July 2000). "Loss of thalamic intralaminar nuclei in progressive supranuclear palsy and Parkinson's disease: clinical and therapeutic implications". Brain. 123 (7): 1410–21. doi:10.1093/brain/123.7.1410. PMID10869053.
