Elsevier

Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews

Volume 56, September 2015, Pages 315-329
Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews

Review
Placing the paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus within the brain circuits that control behavior

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2015.08.005Get rights and content
Under a Creative Commons license
open access

Highlights

  • The paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus is connected with circuits that mediate behavior.

  • The paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus mediates positive and negative emotional behavior.

  • The paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus may be involved in emotional arousal.

Abstract

This article reviews the anatomical connections of the paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus (PVT) and discusses some of the connections by which the PVT could influence behavior. The PVT receives neurochemically diverse projections from the brainstem and hypothalamus with an especially strong innervation from peptide producing neurons. Anatomical evidence is also presented which suggests that the PVT relays information from neurons involved in visceral or homeostatic functions. In turn, the PVT is a major source of projections to the nucleus accumbens, the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis and the central nucleus of the amygdala as well as the cortical areas associated with these subcortical regions. The PVT is activated by conditions and cues that produce states of arousal including those with appetitive or aversive emotional valences. The paper focuses on the potential contribution of the PVT to circadian rhythms, fear, anxiety, food intake and drug-seeking. The information in this paper highlights the potential importance of the PVT as being a component of the brain circuits that regulate reward and defensive behavior with the hope of generating more research in this relatively understudied region of the brain.

Keywords

Paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus
Motivation
Emotions
Arousal
Nucleus accumbens
Prefrontal cortex
Amygdala
Bed nucleus of the stria terminalis
Drug addiction
Fear
Anxiety
Food intake
Circadian rhythms

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