ArticleCurrent biology : CB2023
The role of the parafascicular thalamic nucleus in action initiation and steering.
Article in Current biology : CB, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers.
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Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed, 27 citations in OpenAlex.
- Distinct parafascicular neuronal ensembles mediate the sensory and affective dimensions of trigeminal neuralgia.The Journal of clinical investigation · 2026Article
- Whole-Brain Monosynaptic Inputs to and Axonal Projections From Posterior Insular Cortex GABAergic Neurons in Mice.CNS neuroscience & therapeutics · 2026Article
- Brain-wide activity mapping reveals the somatosensory cortex as a sex-specific regulator of hedonic feeding.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2026Article
- Vestibular nucleus stimulation for ameliorating locomotor dynamics in a Parkinsonian mouse model.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Sleep circuit modulation: from animal models to human translation.Brain : a journal of neurology · 2026Review
- The parafascicular thalamus steers attention to facilitate learning.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- BNC2 as a putative transcriptional coordinator linking energy state to neural circuits.iScience · 2026Review
- The parafascicular nucleus of the thalamus orchestrates coordinated skeletomotor, autonomic, and aversive state transitions.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Complementary cortical and thalamic contributions to cell type-specific striatal activity dynamics during movement.Science advances · 2026Article
- Differential alterations of thalamic subregions in children and adolescents with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and comorbid internalizing/externalizing disorders.BMC psychiatry · 2025Article
- Article
- Role of posterior medial thalamus in the modulation of striatal circuitry and choice behavior.eLife · 2025Article
- Mapping Brain-Wide Neural Activity of Murine Attentional Processing in the Five-Choice Serial Reaction Time Task.Neuroscience bulletin · 2025Article
- Dissociable roles of distinct thalamic circuits in learning reaches to spatial targets.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Article
- A cortico-subcortical loop for motor control via the pontine reticular formation.Cell reports · 2025Article
- Classification of psychedelics and psychoactive drugs based on brain-wide imaging of cellular c-Fos expression.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Classification of psychedelics and psychoactive drugs based on brain-wide imaging of cellular c-Fos expression.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024Article
- Restoring the Function of Thalamocortical Circuit Through Correcting Thalamic Kv3.2 Channelopathy Normalizes Fear Extinction Impairments in a PTSD Mouse Model.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2024Article
- Micropopulation mapping of the mouse parafascicular nucleus connections reveals diverse input-output motifs.Frontiers in neuroanatomy · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
The parafascicular (Pf) nucleus of the thalamus has been implicated in arousal and attention, but its contributions to behavior remain poorly characterized. Here, using in vivo and in vitro electrophysiology, optogenetics, and 3D motion capture, we studied the role of the Pf nucleus in behavior using a continuous reward-tracking task in freely moving mice. We found that many Pf neurons precisely represent vector components of velocity, with a strong preference for ipsiversive movements. Their activity usually leads velocity, suggesting that Pf output is critical for self-initiated orienting behavior. To test this hypothesis, we expressed excitatory or inhibitory opsins in VGlut2+ Pf neurons to manipulate neural activity bidirectionally. We found that selective optogenetic stimulation of these neurons consistently produced ipsiversive head turning, whereas inhibition stopped turning and produced downward movements. Taken together, our results suggest that the Pf nucleus can send continuous top-down commands that specify detailed action parameters (e.g., direction and speed of the head), thus providing guidance for orienting and steering during behavior.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.