Mammillothalamic fasciculus

Mammillothalamic fasciculus
Mammillothalamic tract
Latin fasciculus mammillothalamicus
Gray's subject #191 869

The mammillothalamic fasciculus (mammillothalamic tract, thalamomammillary fasciculus, bundle of Vicq d’Azyr) arises from cells in both the medial and lateral nuclei of the mammillary body and by fibers that are directly continued from the fornix.

The Mammillothalamic fasciculus then connects the mammillary body to the dorsal tegmental nuclei, the ventral tegmental nuclei, and the anterior thalamic nucleus [1]

Contents

Anatomy

The mammillothalamic tract was first described by the French physician, Félix Vicq d'Azyr, from which it takes its alternate name (The Bundle of Vicq d'Azyr).

There axons divide within the gray matter; the coarser branches pass into the anterior nucleus of the thalamus as the bundle of Vicq d’Azyr, the finer branches pass downward as the mammillo-tegmental bundle of Gudden. This might be identical to the hypothalamotegmental tract.

The bundle of Vicq d’Azyr spreads out fan-like as it terminates in the anterior or dorsal nucleus of the thalamus.

A few of the fibers pass through the dorsal nucleus to the angular nucleus of the thalamus. ("The term 'angular thalamic nucleus' refers to a group of cells ventral to the lateral dorsal nucleus in the mouse."[2])

The axons from these nuclei are supposed to form part of the thalamocortical system.

Clinical significance

Infarction has been associated with Korsakoff syndrome.[3]

See also

References

  1. ^ Haines, DE. (2003) Neuroanatomy: Atlas of Structures, Sections, and Systems, 6th ed. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. p232
  2. ^ NeuroNames. Angular Thalamic Nucleus --> "What, Where and How Big is It?" BrainInfo. Accessed January 25, 2011.
  3. ^ 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. http://www.ajnr.org/cgi/pmidlookup?view=long&pmid=15205131. 

External links

This article was originally based on an entry from a public domain edition of Gray's Anatomy. As such, some of the information contained within it may be outdated.

v · d · eHuman brain: diencephalon (TA A14.1.08, GA 9.807)
Epithalamus
Surface
Thalamus
Surface
Stria medullaris of thalamus · Thalamic reticular nucleus · Taenia thalami

paired: AN · Ventral (VA/VL, VP/VPM/VPL) · Lateral (LD, LP, Pulvinar nuclei) · Metathalamus (MG, LG)

midline: MD · Intralaminar (Centromedian) · Midline nuclear group · Interthalamic adhesion

Mammillothalamic fasciculus · Pallidothalamic tracts (Ansa lenticularis, Lenticular fasciculus, Thalamic fasciculus) · PCML (Medial lemniscus, Trigeminal lemniscus) · Spinothalamic tract · Lateral lemniscus · Dentatothalamic tract · Acoustic radiation · Optic radiation · Subthalamic fasciculus · Anterior trigeminothalamic tract

Medullary laminae
Hypothalamus
Surface
Autonomic zones
Anterior (parasympathetic/heat loss) · Posterior (sympathetic/heat conservation)
afferent (SN → Medial forebrain bundle) · efferent (Mammillothalamic fasciculus → AN, Stria terminalis → Amygdala, Dorsal longitudinal fasciculus → SC)
Posterior is diencephalon, but anterior is glandular
Subthalamus
Ventricular system:
Third ventricle

recesses: (Optic recess, Infundibular recess, Suprapineal recess, Pineal recess)

Hypothalamic sulcus · Tela chorioidea of third ventricle

Subfornical organ

Apertures: Interventricular/Monro

Posterior commissure

M: CNS

anat(n/s/m/p/4/e/b/d/c/a/f/l/g)/phys/devp

noco(m/d/e/h/v/s)/cong/tumr, sysi/epon, injr

proc, drug(N1A/2AB/C/3/4/7A/B/C/D)
v · d · ePapez circuit pathway
Diencephalon
Mammillary body → Mammillothalamic tract → Anterior nuclei of thalamus →
Telencephalon

M: CNS

anat(n/s/m/p/4/e/b/d/c/a/f/l/g)/phys/devp

noco(m/d/e/h/v/s)/cong/tumr, sysi/epon, injr

proc, drug(N1A/2AB/C/3/4/7A/B/C/D)


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