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Medial geniculate nucleus | |
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![]() Thalamic nuclei: MNG = Midline nuclear group AN = Anterior nuclear group MD = Medial dorsal nucleus VNG = Ventral nuclear group VA = Ventral anterior nucleus VL = Ventral lateral nucleus VPL = Ventral posterolateral nucleus VPM = Ventral posteromedial nucleus LNG = Lateral nuclear group PUL = Pulvinar MTh = Metathalamus LG = Lateral geniculate nucleus MG = Medial geniculate nucleus | |
![]() Auditory pathway (Medial geniculate body labeled at upper right, second from top) | |
Details | |
Part of | Thalamus |
System | Auditory system |
Artery | Striate |
Identifiers | |
Latin | corpus geniculatum mediale |
NeuroNames | 355 |
NeuroLex ID | birnlex_1670 |
TA98 | A14.1.08.303 A14.1.08.808 |
TA2 | 5667, 5702 |
FMA | 62211 |
Anatomical terms of neuroanatomy |
The medial geniculate nucleus (MGN) or medial geniculate body (MGB) is part of the auditory thalamus and represents the thalamic relay between the inferior colliculus (IC) and the auditory cortex (AC). It is made up of a number of sub-nuclei that are distinguished by their neuronal morphology and density, by their afferent and efferent connections, and by the coding properties of their neurons. It is thought that the MGN influences the direction and maintenance of attention.
The MGN has three major divisions; ventral (VMGN), dorsal (DMGN) and medial (MMGN). Whilst the VMGN is specific to auditory information processing, the DMGN and MMGN also receive information from non-auditory pathways.
Division | Inputs | Outputs |
VMGN | * Inferior colliculus ** ICC (ipsilateral) ** ICP (contralateral) * Reticular nucleus of the thalamus (ipsilateral) * Auditory cortex | Auditory cortex * Anterior (AAF) * Primary (AI) * Posterior (PAF) |
DMGN | * IC ** Pericentral nuclei ** External nuclei * Auditory cortex * Other thalamic nuclei | Auditory cortex |
MMGN | * ICC (ipsilateral) * LLN (ipsi and contra) * Superior colliculus * Periolivary nuclei * Auditory cortex ** Secondary (AII) * Reticular nucleus of thalamus * Somatosensory and vestibular influences are also present | Auditory Cortex * AII (ipsilateral) * AAF (ipsilateral) * AI (ipsilateral) * PAF (ipsilateral) |
There are two main cell types in the ventral subnucleus of the medial geniculate body (VMGN):
The VMGN is thought to be primarily responsible for relaying frequency, intensity and binaural information to the cortex. The responses in the VMGN appear to be organized in a tonotopically similar way to those in the IC. The primary difference being that the iso-frequency bands are arranged such that lateral regions are most responsive to low frequencies and medial regions are responsive to high frequencies. Spatiotopic and modulotopic maps (as in the IC) however have not been well supported by mammalian studies. Both monaural (10%) and binaural cells (90%) exist in the MGN. The monaural cells are primarily responsive to sound in the contralateral hemifield. Binaural cells are typically similar to the EE or EI type found in the IC.
Definitions of abbreviations
IC = Inferior colliculus
EE (Excitatory excitatory) type neurons are characterized by excitatory responses to monaural stimulations of both ears. This response may either be higher than the monaural response (EE– facilitation) Or lower (EE– occlusion)
EI (Excitatory inhibitory) type neurons Are characterized by monaural excitation (usually from the contralateral ear). The ipsilateral neuron is inhibited when contralateral ear is stimulated at the same time
There are a large number of cell types present in the dorsal subnucleus of the medial geniculate body (DMGN):
At least two principal cell types have been found, along with two distinct types of interneurons. Several sub-nuclei have been identified based on morphology. No frequency-specific layering has been found in the DMGN.
Many types of responses are present in the DMGB that appear to vary by sub-nuclei. Generally, the responses are broadly tuned, but some cells appear to respond only to complex stimuli. Other cells are multi modal, often responding to somatosensory as well as auditory stimuli.
Cells in the medial subnucleus of the medial geniculate body (MMGN) have large irregular shaped dendritic trees. There is no clear segregation based on the source of these inputs.
The MMGN seems to functionally be responsible for detection of the relative intensity and duration of a sound. It shows a wide range of responses to auditory stimuli. Binaural interactions found in the MMGN include EE, EI, and IE types. Both broadly and narrowly tuned cells have been observed. A type of intensity tuning has also been observed. In this type of cell, the response actually decreases as sound intensity increases above a specific level. Almost all cells in the MMGN appear to respond for the duration of the stimulus, and have very little adaptation. Individual cells still appear to be preferentially tuned to certain frequencies, but they often have more than one and are broadly tuned within these cell frequencies. It is not clear whether there truly is one, none, or many tonotopic organizations maps present in the MMGN. Anaesthetics tend to have large effects on cells within the MMGN, making responses difficult to study. Finally, the behaviour of MMGN cells are complicated by the fact that sensory stimulation from other modalities modifies the responsiveness of many, but not all, cells in the MMGN.
Articles related to anatomy include:
In neuroanatomy, the lateral geniculate nucleus is a structure in the thalamus and a key component of the mammalian visual pathway. It is a small, ovoid, ventral projection of the thalamus where the thalamus connects with the optic nerve. There are two LGNs, one on the left and another on the right side of the thalamus. In humans, both LGNs have six layers of neurons alternating with optic fibers.
The auditory system is the sensory system for the sense of hearing. It includes both the sensory organs and the auditory parts of the sensory system.
The lateral lemniscus is a tract of axons in the brainstem that carries information about sound from the cochlear nucleus to various brainstem nuclei and ultimately the contralateral inferior colliculus of the midbrain. Three distinct, primarily inhibitory, cellular groups are located interspersed within these fibers, and are thus named the nuclei of the lateral lemniscus.
The inferior colliculus (IC) is the principal midbrain nucleus of the auditory pathway and receives input from several peripheral brainstem nuclei in the auditory pathway, as well as inputs from the auditory cortex. The inferior colliculus has three subdivisions: the central nucleus, a dorsal cortex by which it is surrounded, and an external cortex which is located laterally. Its bimodal neurons are implicated in auditory-somatosensory interaction, receiving projections from somatosensory nuclei. This multisensory integration may underlie a filtering of self-effected sounds from vocalization, chewing, or respiration activities.
A koniocellular cell is a neuron with a small cell body that is located in the koniocellular layer of the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) in primates, including humans.
In neuroanatomy, thalamocortical radiations, also known as thalamocortical fibres, are the efferent fibres that project from the thalamus to distinct areas of the cerebral cortex. They form fibre bundles that emerge from the lateral surface of the thalamus.
In neuroscience, Golgi cells are the most abundant inhibitory interneurons found within the granular layer of the cerebellum. Golgi cells can be found in the granular layer at various layers. The Golgi cell is essential for controlling the activity of the granular layer. They were first identified as inhibitory in 1964. It was also the first example of an inhibitory feedback network in which the inhibitory interneuron was identified anatomically. Golgi cells produce a wide lateral inhibition that reaches beyond the afferent synaptic field and inhibit granule cells via feedforward and feedback inhibitory loops. These cells synapse onto the dendrite of granule cells and unipolar brush cells. They receive excitatory input from mossy fibres, also synapsing on granule cells, and parallel fibers, which are long granule cell axons. Thereby this circuitry allows for feed-forward and feed-back inhibition of granule cells.
The cochlear nuclear (CN) complex comprises two cranial nerve nuclei in the human brainstem, the ventral cochlear nucleus (VCN) and the dorsal cochlear nucleus (DCN). The ventral cochlear nucleus is unlayered whereas the dorsal cochlear nucleus is layered. Auditory nerve fibers, fibers that travel through the auditory nerve carry information from the inner ear, the cochlea, on the same side of the head, to the nerve root in the ventral cochlear nucleus. At the nerve root the fibers branch to innervate the ventral cochlear nucleus and the deep layer of the dorsal cochlear nucleus. All acoustic information thus enters the brain through the cochlear nuclei, where the processing of acoustic information begins. The outputs from the cochlear nuclei are received in higher regions of the auditory brainstem.
The dorsal cochlear nucleus is a cortex-like structure on the dorso-lateral surface of the brainstem. Along with the ventral cochlear nucleus (VCN), it forms the cochlear nucleus (CN), where all auditory nerve fibers from the cochlea form their first synapses.
The superior olivary complex (SOC) or superior olive is a collection of brainstem nuclei that is located in pons, functions in multiple aspects of hearing and is an important component of the ascending and descending auditory pathways of the auditory system. The SOC is intimately related to the trapezoid body: most of the cell groups of the SOC are dorsal to this axon bundle while a number of cell groups are embedded in the trapezoid body. Overall, the SOC displays a significant interspecies variation, being largest in bats and rodents and smaller in primates.
The interaural time difference when concerning humans or animals, is the difference in arrival time of a sound between two ears. It is important in the localization of sounds, as it provides a cue to the direction or angle of the sound source from the head. If a signal arrives at the head from one side, the signal has further to travel to reach the far ear than the near ear. This pathlength difference results in a time difference between the sound's arrivals at the ears, which is detected and aids the process of identifying the direction of sound source.
A topographic map is the ordered projection of a sensory surface, like the retina or the skin, or an effector system, like the musculature, to one or more structures of the central nervous system. Topographic maps can be found in all sensory systems and in many motor systems.
Binaural fusion or binaural integration is a cognitive process that involves the combination of different auditory information presented binaurally, or to each ear. In humans, this process is essential in understanding speech as one ear may pick up more information about the speech stimuli than the other.
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