Abstract
The subthalamic nucleus (STN) is an essential component of the basal ganglia and has long been considered to be a part of the ventral thalamus. However, recent neurodevelopmental data indicated that this nucleus is of hypothalamic origin which is now commonly acknowledged. In this work, we aimed to verify whether the inclusion of the STN in the hypothalamus could influence the way we understand and conduct research on the organization of the whole ventral and posterior diencephalon. Developmental and neurochemical data indicate that the STN is part of a larger glutamatergic posterior hypothalamic region that includes the premammillary and mammillary nuclei. The main anatomical characteristic common to this region involves the convergent cortical and pallidal projections that it receives, which is based on the model of the hyperdirect and indirect pathways to the STN. This whole posterior hypothalamic region is then integrated into distinct functional networks that interact with the ventral mesencephalon to adjust behavior depending on external and internal contexts.
Significance statement
In this work, we suggest that networks between the telencephalon, including cerebral cortex and basal nuclei, with the whole posterior hypothalamus, including the subthalamic nucleus, posterior lateral hypothalamic, premammillary and mammillary nuclei, are built along topographically organized pathways that parallel the hyperdirect and indirect pathways that are characteristic of the basal ganglia network. This suggests a high degree of organizational convergence between the basal ganglia and longitudinal hypothalamic networks to control the expression of behavioral responses adapted to external and internal cues.
Footnotes
Authors report no conflict of interest
Authors thank the Region Bourgogne Franche-Comte for funding the work
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium provided that the original work is properly attributed.
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