Submit Manuscript

Volume 37, Issue 11, 2021

  [Cover]
The cerebellum is a co-processor of motor and non-motor behaviors through the 'cerebellar connectome', in which the thalamic complex is a relay center. Ma et al. found that the cerebellar interposed nucleus (IpN) only forms functional projections with the thalamic ventrolateral (VL) nucleus but not the centrolateral (CL) nucleus. Interestingly, the IpN–VL projection displays enormous heterogeneity in three-dimensional space. The cover image vividly describes this innervation pattern: the vines derived from the cerebellum wind their way to connect with a lush tree (thalamic complex), and bear fruit only on brown branches (VL) but not on yellow ones (CL). The distribution of fruit is quite uneven: more fruit in some places while few in other places, implying the spatial heterogeneity of cerebello-thalamic projections. The mouse runs eagerly towards the cerebellum and the tree, meaning that cerebello-thalamic projections are essential to motor control. See pages 1529–1541. (Cover art by Drs Zhaoxiang Wang and Ying Shen).