Unveiling Functional Architecture of Human Thalamus: AStereoelectroencephalography Study

As a critical hub in the thalamo-cortical circuit, the human thalamus engages in a spectrum of fundamental and advanced brain functions through widely distributed circuits. Clinically, dysfunction of thalamo-cortical circuits is shown to be profoundly implicated in a wide range of neurological and psychiatric diseases. Nevertheless, the neuroanatomical substrates governing these functions of the thalamus have rarely been directly mapped in humans. Here, we overviewed the acute responses of direct electrical stimulation (DES) delivered to the distributed thalamus sites in 52 epilepsy patients admitted for presurgical stereoelectroencephalography. Specifically, DES of the thalamus evoked a broad spectrum of in-situ responses spanning fundamental functions such as sensory and motor processing, extending to complex neural operations encompassing neurovegetative regulation, cognitive processing, emotional modulation, and multimodal responsiveness. Moreover, through the integration of DES with functional human connectome (n = 1000), we found an intra-thalamic intrinsic functional network associated with each specific clinical response. Our data provide direct substantiation for the complex functional architecture of the human thalamus, advancing current understanding of its role and potentially culminating in targeted therapeutic strategies tailored to ameliorate symptom-specific neural circuit disorders.