Thalamocortical circuitry

Frantseva, M.V., Perez Velazquez, J.L., and Carlen, P.L. 1998. Changes in membrane and synaptic properties of thalamocortical circuitry caused by hydrogen peroxide. J Neurophysiol 80(3) 1317-1326... 

Huguenard, I. R. Neuronal circuitry of thalamocortical epilepsy and mechanisms of antiabsence drug action. Adv. Neurol. 79 991-999,1999. 

Functional neuroimaging studies provide strong evidence for dysfunction of the cortical-striatal-thalamocortical (CSTC) circuitry. Symptoms of OCD are associated with increased activity in orbitofrontal cortex in neutral state (Swedo et ah, 1989b Baxter, 1994 Saxena et ah, 1998). Increased activity was also noted in some of these studies in anterior cingulate gyrus, caudate nucleus, and thalamus. Horwitz et al. (1991) found that the pattern of intercorrelations between various brain regions in patients with OCD differed from that of controls. 

The development of serotonergic innervation to the cerebral cortex has been characterized in neonatal rats by immunohistochemical techniques and autoradiographic imaging. These experiments demonstrate early serotonergic innervation that could be involved in a transient physiological role in sensory areas of the cortex or exert a trophic influence on the development of cortical circuitry and thalamocortical connections [76]. 

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