Human thalamus: neurochemical mapping of inferior pulvinar complex

The primate pulvinar connects with the entire array of known visual areas and is postulated to play a role in selective visual attention. Recently, five separate neurochemical subdivisions of a region termed the inferior pulvinar (PI) complex were identified in monkeys. In the present study, similar histochemical procedures were applied to map the extent of the PI complex in humans. Acetylcholinesterase histochemistry and cytochrome oxidase staining demarcated four histochemical zones in human pulvinar, corresponding to the medial, central, lateral and lateral-shell (PI(M), PI(C), PI(L), and PI(L-S)) divisions of the PI complex in monkeys.