2026年8月27日，挪威科技大学Anh-Tuan Trinh等科学家在《科学》发表研究，揭示了斑马鱼丘脑皮层样环路中层级感觉处理的原理。

丘脑皮层投射塑造了哺乳动物大脑皮层的功能区域化和并行感觉计算。然而，非哺乳动物脊椎动物中丘脑皮层计算的原理仍未得到充分探索。在这项工作中，研究人员探究了斑马鱼苍白球（脊椎动物大脑皮层的同源物）如何接收和处理感觉信息，以及其结构如何与其他脊椎动物的丘脑皮层环路进行比较。他们发现，前肾小球复合体（PG）——一条丘脑皮层样通路——是斑马鱼苍白球视觉和振动信息的主要来源。PG及其苍白球投射表现出感觉特异性和地形组织的反应。相比之下，苍白球神经元表现出地形组织的层级结构，范围从感觉特异性到多模态和重合检测非线性反应。研究结果表明，跨越地形组织的丘脑皮层样环路的感觉转化层级反映了一个在脊椎动物中趋同的原理。

附：英文原文

Title: Hierarchical sensory processing in zebrafish thalamocortical-like circuits

Author: Anh-Tuan Trinh, Anna Maria Ostenrath, Ignacio del Castillo-Berges, Fanchon Cachin, Mina Ko, Susanne Kraus, Bram Serneels, Koichi Kawakami, Emre Yaksi

Issue&Volume: 2026-08-27

Abstract: Thalamocortical projections shape the functional regionalization and parallel sensory computations across the mammalian cortex. However, the principles of thalamocortical computations in nonmammalian vertebrates remain underexplored. In this work, we investigated how the zebrafish pallium, a homolog of the vertebrate cortex, receives and processes sensory information and how its architecture compares to thalamocortical circuits in other vertebrates. We revealed that the preglomerular complex (PG), a thalamocortical-like pathway, is the primary source of visual and vibrational information to the zebrafish pallium. PG and its pallial projections exhibit sensory-specific and topographically organized responses. By contrast, pallial neurons display topographically organized hierarchies, ranging from sensory-specific to multimodal and coincidence-detecting nonlinear responses. Our results suggest that hierarchies of sensory transformations across topographically organized thalamocortical-like circuits reflect a convergent principle across vertebrates.

DOI: 10.1126/science.aec2171

Source: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aec2171