Ventromedial thalamic neurons convey nociceptive signals from the whole body surface to the dorsolateral neocortex

Abstract

The somatosensory properties of ventromedial (VM) thalamic neurons were investigated in anesthetized rats by examining their responses to calibrated cutaneous stimuli. A population of neurons within the lateral part of the ventromedial thalamus (VMl) showed two peaks of activation after percutaneous electrical stimuli, regardless of which part of the body was stimulated. The early and late peaks were elicited by Aδ- and C-fiber activities with mean conduction velocities of 12.9 ± 0.9 and 1 ± 0.2 m/sec, respectively. These responses were strongly depressed or blocked after microinjections within the medullary subnucleus reticularis dorsalis of xylocaine or the NMDA antagonist MK-801. None of the VMl neurons responded to innocuous cutaneous or proprioceptive stimuli. In contrast, all these neurons responded to noxious mechanical and thermal stimulation of the limbs and showed monotonic increases in their discharges to increasingly strong noxious cutaneous stimuli. In addition, some VMl neurons were antidromically activated by stimulation in layer 1 of the dorsolateral frontal cortex. These findings suggest that the rat VMl conveys and encodes cutaneous nociceptive inputs from any part of the body surface to layer 1 of the dorsolateral neocortex. This reticulo-thalamocortical network may allow any signal of pain to gain access to widespread areas of the neocortex and thus help prime the cortex for attentional reactions and/or the coordination of motor responses.