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Cerebral Cortex Advance Access published online on October 20, 2008
Cerebral Cortex, doi:10.1093/cercor/bhn185
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© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Reciprocal Thalamocortical Connectivity of the Medial Pulvinar: A Depth Stimulation and Evoked Potential Study in Human Brain

D. S. Rosenberg1,2,3, F. Mauguière1,2,3, H. Catenoix1,3, I. Faillenot2,3,4 and M. Magnin2,3

1 Centre Hospitalier Universitaire LYON, Neurological Hospital, Department of Functional Neurology and Epileptology, Bron, F-69677 France, 2 INSERM, U879, Bron, F-69677 France, 3 Lyon Institute of Neurosciences (Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale–Institut Fédératif de Recherche 19), Bron, F-69677 France, 4 CHU SAINT-ETIENNE, Department of Neurology, F-42 055 St-Etienne, France

Address correspondence to D. S. Rosenberg, Department of Neurophysiology and Epileptology, Gabriel Montpied Hospital, CHU Clermont-Ferrand, France. Email: drosenberg{at}chu-clermontferrand.fr.

The thalamic medial pulvinar nucleus (PuM) is fully developed only in primates and reaches its greatest extent in humans. To assess the reciprocal functional connectivity between PuM and cortex, we studied intracerebral-evoked responses obtained after PuM and cortical electrical stimulation in 7 epileptic patients undergoing depth electroencephalographic recordings. Cortical-evoked potentials (CEPs) to PuM stimulation were recorded from all explored cortical regions, except striate cortex, anterior cingulated, and postcentral gyrus. Percentages of cortical contacts pairs responding to PuM stimulation (CEPs response rate) ranged from 80% in temporal neocortex, temporoparietal (TP) junction, insula, and frontoparietal opercular cortex to 34% in mesial temporal regions. Reciprocally, PuM-evoked potentials (PEPs) response rates were 14% after cortical stimulation in insula and frontoparietal opercular cortex, 67% in the TP junction, 76% in temporal neocortex, and 80% in mesial temporal regions. Overall, our study of functional PuM connectivity in the human brain converges with most of the data from anatomical studies in monkeys, except for a strong amygdalohippocampal functional projection to PuM and an unexpected imbalance between some of the reciprocal pathways explored. This functional quantitative approach helps to clarify the functional role of PuM as well as its implication in temporal lobe epileptic seizures.

Key Words: epilepsy • evoked potentials • functional connectivity • human medial pulvinar • thalamocortical pathways


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