The claustrum

• Published in: Current biology 2020-12, Vol.30 (23), p.R1401-R1406
• Main Authors: Smith, Jared B., Lee, Albert K., Jackson, Jesse
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0960-9822; 1879-0445
• DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2020.09.069

The claustrum is a brain region that has been investigated for over 200 years, yet its precise function remains unknown. In the final posthumously released article of Francis Crick, written with Christof Koch, the claustrum was suggested to be critically linked to consciousness. Though the claustrum remained relatively obscure throughout the last half century, it has enjoyed a renewed interest in the last 15 years since Crick and Koch’s article. During this time, the claustrum, like many other brain regions, has been studied with the myriad of modern systems neuroscience tools that have been made available by the intersection of genetic and viral technologies. This has uncovered new information about its anatomical connectivity and physiological properties and begun to reveal aspects of its function. From these studies, one clear consensus has emerged which supports Crick and Koch’s primary interest in the claustrum: the claustrum has widespread extensive connectivity with the entire cerebral cortex, suggesting a prominent role in ‘higher order processes’. In this Primer, Smith et al. provide an overview of claustrum neurobiology, outlining its anatomical connectivity and potential role in attention and sleep states.