The nucleus reuniens receives afferent input from a large number of structures, mainly from limbic and limbic-associated structures.[6] It sends projections to the medial prefrontal cortex, the hippocampus, perirhinal cortex, and entorhinal cortex,[7][8][9] although there exist sparse connections to many other afferent structures as well.[10]
The unique medial prefrontal cortex and hippocampal connectivity allows reuniens to regulate neural traffic in this cortical network related to changes in an organism's attentiveness,[11] making reuniens critical to associative learning,[12] memory retrieval,[13] memory generalization,[14] spatial route planning,[15] and resilience to stress.[16]
^McKenna, J. T.; Vertes, R. P. (2004). "Afferent projections to nucleus reuniens of the thalamus". The Journal of Comparative Neurology. 480 (2): 115–142. doi:10.1002/cne.20342. PMID15514932. S2CID9284778.
^Wouterlood, F. G.; Saldana, E.; Witter, M. P. (1990). "Projection from the nucleus reuniens thalami to the hippocampal region: Light and electron microscopic tracing study in the rat with the anterograde tracerPhaseolus vulgaris-leucoagglutinin". The Journal of Comparative Neurology. 296 (2): 179–203. doi:10.1002/cne.902960202. PMID2358531. S2CID24568442.
^Vertes, R. P. (2006). "Interactions among the medial prefrontal cortex, hippocampus and midline thalamus in emotional and cognitive processing in the rat". Neuroscience. 142 (1): 1–20. doi:10.1016/j.neuroscience.2006.06.027. PMID16887277. S2CID5591335.
^Herkenham, M. (1978). "The connections of the nucleus reuniens thalami: Evidence for a direct thalamo-hippocampal pathway in the rat". The Journal of Comparative Neurology. 177 (4): 589–610. doi:10.1002/cne.901770405. PMID624792. S2CID7535058.