Anterior thalamic nuclei lesions in rats disrupt markers of neural plasticity in distal limbic brain regions

► Anterior thalamic lesions alter the ratio of hippocampal CREB to pCREB. ► Anterior thalamic lesions reduced pCREB in granular retrosplenial cortex. ► Changes in limbic pCREB may explain learning deficits after anterior thalamic lesions. ► zif268 Hypoactivity in granular retrosplenial cortex after anterior thalamic lesions. ► Hippocampal zif268 levels relatively insensitive to anterior thalamic damage.