Overview Introduction Function serves as a major sensory relay center which will ultimately reach the neocortex central nervous system structures involved in motor movement can also synapse in the thalamus these structures include cerebellum basal ganglia Anatomy Select Thalamic Nuclei Nuclei Circuitry Anterior nuclear group Input mamillary body (via the mammillothalamic tract) Output cingulate gyrus (part of Papez circuit) Medial nuclear group Input amygdala prefrontal cortex temporal lobe Output prefrontal cortex cingulate gyrus Nuclei example dorsomedial nucleus thiamine deficiency can result in degeneration of this thalamic nuclei Ventral posterolateral (VPL) nucleus Input sensory information from the dorsal columns and spinothalamic tract dorsal columns pressure vibration proprioception fine touch spinothalamic pain and temperature crude touch Outputprimary somatosensory cortex Ventral posteromedial (VPM) nucleus Input sensory information of trigeminal and gustatory afferents (in other words, the face) Output primary somatosensory cortex Ventral lateral (VL) nucleus Input globus pallidus cerebellar dentate nucleus Output primary motor cortex Medial geniculate body Input inferior colliculus (in other words, hearing) Output auditory cortex Lateral geniculate body Input optic nerve (cranial nerve II) Output primary visual cortex Clinical correlate thalamic pain syndrome patients can present with a burning sensation and allodynia this is secondary to a stroke affecting the thalamus Wernicke encephalopathy a neurologic emergency secondary to thiamine deficiency which affects the mamillary bodies (in almost all cases) dorsomedial thalamus