Specialized layer 5 cortical terminals target functional thalamic spines

Authors

Bokor, H., Hadinger, N., Toth, B., Domonkos, A., Kuramoto, E., Shepherd, G. M. G., Yamawaki, N., Judit, M., Acsady, L.

Abstract

Dendritic spines are ubiquitous morpho-functional elements of excitatory synaptic transmission and plasticity. Whether axo-spinous communication exists in the thalamus is presently unclear. Here we find that layer 5 (L5) corticothalamic terminals arising from frontal cortices selectively target thalamic spines with classical head and neck dimensions. The synapses of the L5 axo-spinous contacts were enriched in GluR1 subunit of AMPA receptor and their size correlated with their spine head volume. Synaptic stimulation of thalamic spines resulted in compartmentalized Ca2+ responses similar to that of hippocampal spines. Optogenetic activation of the frontal L5-thalamus pathway had strong impact on thalamic spiking even at high stimulation frequencies and could selectively recruit a subnetwork of thalamic cells in a behavioral state dependent manner. Optogenetic interference with the small L5-thalamic pathway perturbed motor learning. Our study reveals a hitherto unrecognized, effective top-down communication channel between the frontal cortex and thalamus that involves highly variable axo-spinous contacts

Preprint server: bioRxiv
The authors list and abstract were imported from bioRxiv on 08 Jul 2026.

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