the first thing that comes to mind are the humps and bumps of the cerebral cortex, right?

We know these as the sulci and gyri, of course,

but what about the deeper structures of the brain that lie within and beneath the cerebral cortex?

Those not visible without some kind of dissection.

Say for instance, we wanted to look at the thalamus, the central hub of the brain.

Here we can see the thalamus, which is that oval green structure in the center.

Now we have to dissect part of the cortex to get a better view of the thalamus.

What might that look like if we removed some of the cerebral cortex, and what structures would we expect to find around it?

Are you curious to find out?

For sure!

Then let's see what lies beneath as we explore an illustrative dissection of the thalamus.

Before we jump into today's tutorial, let's take a quick look at what you can expect to learn in this tutorial.

So today we're going to be preparing you for your gross neuroanatomy lab by examining this illustration of the thalamus and its neighboring structures.

We'll begin by first looking at the thalamus and some structures of what's known as the diencephalon and brainstem.

We'll then be moving back up to examine some subcortical landmarks of the cerebrum, which immediately border the thalamus.

And as always, we'll wrap up with some quick and interesting clinical notes.

So I should note that we won't be specifically focusing on the various nuclei and the internal structure of the thalamus today.

But we do have a separate video here on Kenhub all about those deep internal structures of the thalamus.

So let's waste no time and begin exploring the gross anatomy of the thalamus.

First of all, let's figure out exactly what we're looking at.

In this image, we see the cerebral hemispheres from a postero superior view.

So we've resected the cerebral cortex down to the level of the temporal horn of the lateral ventricles where the hippocampi lie, and forward as far as the head of the caudate nucleus.

In the center, you can see the thalamus highlighted in green, remembering that we're looking at it from a posterior perspective.

So now let's move on to our main event, the thalamus,

which is also sometimes referred to as the dorsal thalamus.

And it is a paired or bilateral structure, forming the largest part of the diencephalon.

To refresh your memory, the diencephalon is formed from the thalamus, the epithalamus, the hypothalamus, and the pre-thalamus.

The thalamus is elongated along the anteroposterior axis and is often described as roughly egg-shaped.

But it's a little bit smaller than your breakfast boiled egg, measuring approximately 4 centimeters in length.

The medial surfaces of the thalami are usually connected by an interthalamic adhesion.

It is not known whether any fibers cross over to the other side, so that's why we don't call it a commissure.

From a functional point of view, the thalamus is of utmost importance for the integration of sensory information in the central nervous system, and for the regulation of motor activity and consciousness.

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