Reactions of neurons of the mediodorsal nucleus of the thalamus to the stimulation of peripheral nerves

The reactions of neurons of the associative mediodorsal nucleus of the thalamus to a solitary stimulation of the radial, sciatic, and splanchnic nerves were studied in conditions of an acute experiment in anesthetized and immobilized cats. There were 91.85, 90.56, and 81.35% reactive neurons, respectively. They were mainly concentrated in the parvocellular division of the nucleus. A high degree of convergence (82.6%) of somatic and visceral signals was found and their interaction was of the reciprocal blocking type.Translated from Fiziologicheskii Zhurnal SSSR imeni I. M. Sechenova, Vol. 76, No. 11, pp. 1528–1537, November, 1990.