A possible visual pathway to the cat caudate nucleus involving the pulvinar

Electrical stimulation of the thalamic nucleus pulvinar was found to influence unit activity in the feline caudate nucleus. Twenty-six (18.3%) units were encountered, in this subcortical region of the brain, that responded to activation of the pulvinar input in anesthetized cats and 41 (54%) in awake animals. In the two types of experiments, stimulation of the pulvinar induced mainly an initial excitatory reaction (81% and 78% of responsive cells, respectively). A latency analysis indicated that the majority of responses occurred at a long latency, while 9 (34.6%) cells in anesthetized cats and 5 (12%) in awake animals were excited at a short latency. The short latency is compatible with the involvement of a monosynaptic pathway between the pulvinar and the caudate nucleus. Units that responded to thalamic stimulation were found predominantly in the posterior regions of the caudate nucleus. These results confirm previous neuroanatomical findings of a direct projection from the pulvinar to the feline caudate nucleus. In awake animals, neurons activated by pulvinar stimulation were also tested, using visual stimuli of various orientations. Out of 41 units, 63% were classified as having "visual responses". Of these, 5 cells were found to respond selectively to a particular orientation of the visual stimulus. Three of these were excited at a short latency by pulvinar stimulation. The possible involvement of a direct pathway from the pulvinar to the caudate nucleus in the processing of visual information is discussed.