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The thalamus is a large mass of gray matter located in the dorsal part of the diencephalon. Nerve fibers project out of the thalamus to the cerebral cortex in all directions, known as the thalamocortical radiations, allowing hub-like exchanges of information. It has several functions, such as the relaying of sensory signals, including motor signals to the cerebral cortex and the regulation of consciousness, sleep, and alertness.
Articles related to anatomy include:
The brainstem is the stalk-like part of the brain that interconnects the cerebrum and diencephalon with the spinal cord. In the human brain, the brainstem is composed of the midbrain, the pons, and the medulla oblongata. The midbrain is continuous with the thalamus of the diencephalon through the tentorial notch.
The mammillary bodies are a pair of small round bodies, located on the undersurface of the brain that, as part of the diencephalon, form part of the limbic system. They are located at the ends of the anterior arches of the fornix. They consist of two groups of nuclei, the medial mammillary nuclei and the lateral mammillary nuclei.
The internal capsule is a white matter structure situated in the inferomedial part of each cerebral hemisphere of the brain. It carries information past the basal ganglia, separating the caudate nucleus and the thalamus from the putamen and the globus pallidus. The internal capsule contains both ascending and descending axons, going to and coming from the cerebral cortex. It also separates the caudate nucleus and the putamen in the dorsal striatum, a brain region involved in motor and reward pathways.
The spinothalamic tract is a part of the anterolateral system or the ventrolateral system, a sensory pathway to the thalamus. From the ventral posterolateral nucleus in the thalamus, sensory information is relayed upward to the somatosensory cortex of the postcentral gyrus.
The dorsal column–medial lemniscus pathway (DCML) is a sensory pathway of the central nervous system that conveys sensations of fine touch, vibration, two-point discrimination, and proprioception from the skin and joints. It transmits information from the body to the primary somatosensory cortex in the postcentral gyrus of the parietal lobe of the brain. The pathway receives information from sensory receptors throughout the body, and carries this in nerve tracts in the white matter of the dorsal column of the spinal cord to the medulla, where it is continued in the medial lemniscus, on to the thalamus and relayed from there through the internal capsule and transmitted to the somatosensory cortex. The name dorsal-column medial lemniscus comes from the two structures that carry the sensory information: the dorsal columns of the spinal cord, and the medial lemniscus in the brainstem.
The spinocerebellar tract is a nerve tract originating in the spinal cord and terminating in the same side (ipsilateral) of the cerebellum.
The Papez circuit, or medial limbic circuit, is a neural circuit for the control of emotional expression. In 1937, James Papez proposed that the circuit connecting the hypothalamus to the limbic lobe was the basis for emotional experiences. Paul D. MacLean reconceptualized Papez's proposal and coined the term limbic system. MacLean redefined the circuit as the "visceral brain" which consisted of the limbic lobe and its major connections in the forebrain – hypothalamus, amygdala, and septum. Over time, the concept of a forebrain circuit for the control of emotional expression has been modified to include the prefrontal cortex.
In neuroanatomy, thalamocortical radiations, also known as thalamocortical fibres, are the efferent fibres that project from the thalamus to distinct areas of the cerebral cortex. They form fibre bundles that emerge from the lateral surface of the thalamus.
The zona incerta (ZI) is a horizontally elongated region of gray matter in the subthalamus below the thalamus. Its connections project extensively over the brain from the cerebral cortex down into the spinal cord.
The medial dorsal nucleus is a large nucleus in the thalamus.
The isothalamus is a division used by some researchers in describing the thalamus.
The anterior nuclei of thalamus are a collection of nuclei at the rostral end of the dorsal thalamus. They comprise the anteromedial, anterodorsal, and anteroventral nuclei.
The intralaminar thalamic nuclei (ITN) are collections of neurons in the internal medullary lamina of the thalamus that are generally divided in two groups as follows:
The trisynaptic circuit, or trisynaptic loop is a relay of synaptic transmission in the hippocampus. The circuit was initially described by the neuroanatomist Santiago Ramon y Cajal, in the early twentieth century, using the Golgi staining method. After the discovery of the trisynaptic circuit, a series of research has been conducted to determine the mechanisms driving this circuit. Today, research is focused on how this loop interacts with other parts of the brain, and how it influences human physiology and behaviour. For example, it has been shown that disruptions within the trisynaptic circuit lead to behavioural changes in rodent and feline models.
The ventral pallidum (VP) is a structure within the basal ganglia of the brain. It is an output nucleus whose fibres project to thalamic nuclei, such as the ventral anterior nucleus, the ventral lateral nucleus, and the medial dorsal nucleus. The VP is a core component of the reward system which forms part of the limbic loop of the basal ganglia, a pathway involved in the regulation of motivational salience, behavior, and emotions. It is involved in addiction.
The mammillotegmental fasciculus is a small bundle of efferent fibers from the hypothalamus running from the mammillary body to the tegmentum. Its functions are not well defined for humans, but based on animal studies it seems to be related to regulating visceral function and processing spatial information. The mammillotegmental fasciculus was first described by the German neuroanatomist, Bernhard von Gudden, from which it takes its alternate name, mammillo-tegmental bundle of Gudden.
The dorsal tegmental nucleus (DTN), also known as dorsal tegmental nucleus of Gudden (DTg), is a group of neurons located in the brain stem, which are involved in spatial navigation and orientation.
References
- 1 2 Patestas, Maria A.; Gartner, Leslie P. (2016). A Textbook of Neuroanatomy (2nd ed.). Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley-Blackwell. p. 434. ISBN 978-1-118-67746-9.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 Dillingham, C. M; Frizzati, A; Nelson, A. J; Vann, S. D (2015). "How do mammillary body inputs contribute to anterior thalamic function?". Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews. 54: 108–119. doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2014.07.025. PMC 4462591 . PMID 25107491.
- 1 2 3 Aggleton, J. P; O'Mara, S. M; Vann, S. D; Wright, N. F; Tsanov, M; Erichsen, J. T (2010). "Hippocampal–anterior thalamic pathways for memory: Uncovering a network of direct and indirect actions". European Journal of Neuroscience. 31 (12): 2292–2307. doi:10.1111/j.1460-9568.2010.07251.x. PMC 2936113 . PMID 20550571.
- ↑ Haines DE (2003). Neuroanatomy: Atlas of Structures, Sections, and Systems, 6th ed (page 148). Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. ISBN 978-0781746779.
- ↑ NeuroNames. Angular Thalamic Nucleus --> "What, Where and How Big is It?" BrainInfo. Accessed January 25, 2011.
- ↑ Kamali, Arash; Zhang, Caroline C.; Riascos, Roy F.; Tandon, Nitin; Bonafante-Mejia, Eliana E.; Patel, Rajan; Lincoln, John A.; Rabiei, Pejman; Ocasio, Laura; Younes, Kyan; Hasan, Khader M. (2018-03-27). "Diffusion tensor tractography of the mammillothalamic tract in the human brain using a high spatial resolution DTI technique". Scientific Reports. 8 (1): 5229. Bibcode:2018NatSR...8.5229K. doi:10.1038/s41598-018-23452-w. ISSN 2045-2322. PMC 5869722 . PMID 29588461.
- ↑ Yoneoka Y, Takeda N, Inoue A, et al. (2004). "Acute Korsakoff syndrome following mammillothalamic tract infarction". AJNR Am J Neuroradiol. 25 (6): 964–8. PMID 15205131.
