Septal nuclei

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Brain: Septal nuclei
NeuroNames	hier-241
Dorlands/Elsevier	n_11/12583395

The septal nuclei are structures in the middle anteroventral cerebrum that are composed of medium-size neurons grouped into medial, lateral, and posterior groups. The septal nuclei receive reciprocal connections from the hippocampus, amygdala, hypothalamus, midbrain, habenula, cingulate gyrus, and thalamus.

The septal nuclei play an important role in reward and reinforcement. In the 1950s, Olds & Milner showed that rats with electrodes implanted in this area will self-stimulate repeatedly (i.e. press a bar to receive electrical current that will stimulate the neurons) in order to experience a pleasurable feeling^[1].

[edit] External links

• BrainMaps at UCDavis septal%20nuclei

v • d • e Human brain: Limbic system Diencephalon Hypothalamus · Mammillary body Telencephalon: limbic lobe Archicortex: Hippocampal formation (Hippocampus, Alveus of the hippocampus, Subiculum, Perforant path, Fimbria, Dentate gyrus) · Paraterminal gyrus · Supracallosal gyrus Cingulate gyrus · Parahippocampal gyrus · Uncus Telencephalon: other Amygdala · Nucleus accumbens · Orbitofrontal cortex septum: Septum pellucidum, Septal nuclei

[edit] References:

1. OLDS, J., MILNER, P. - Positive reinforcement produced by electrical stimulation of septal area and other regions of rat brain. J Comp Physiol Psychol, 1954, Dec;47(6):419-27.