The midline nuclear group (or midline thalamic nuclei) is a region of the
thalamus
The thalamus (from Greek θάλαμος, "chamber") is a large mass of gray matter located in the dorsal part of the diencephalon (a division of the forebrain). Nerve fibers project out of the thalamus to the cerebral cortex in all directions, ...
consisting of the following nuclei:
* paraventricular nucleus of thalamus (''nucleus paraventricularis thalami'') - not to be confused with
paraventricular nucleus of hypothalamus
*
paratenial nucleus
The paratenial nucleus, or parataenial nucleus ( la, nucleus parataenialis), is a component of the midline nuclear group in the thalamus. It is sometimes subdivided into the nucleus parataenialis interstitialis and nucleus parataenialis parvocellu ...
(''nucleus parataenialis'')
*
nucleus reuniens
* rhomboid nucleus (''nucleus commissuralis rhomboidalis'')
* subfascicular nucleus (''nucleus subfascicularis'')
The midline nuclei are often called "nonspecific" in that they project widely to the cortex and elsewhere. This has led to the assumption that they may be involved in general functions such as alerting. However, anatomical connections might suggest more specific functions, with the paraventricular and paratenial nuclei involved in viscero-limbic functions, and the reuniens and rhomboid nuclei involved in multimodal sensory processing.
[Van der Werf YD, Witter MP, Groenewegen HJ. The intralaminar and midline nuclei of the thalamus. Anatomical and functional evidence for participation in processes of arousal and awareness. Brain Res Brain Res Rev. 2002 Sep;39(2-3):107-40.]
References
Thalamic nuclei
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