Mammillotegmental fasciculus

Mammillotegmental fasciculus
Details
Latin fasciculus mammillotegmentalis
Part of Midbrain
System Limbic
Identifiers
TA A14.1.08.953
FMA 62058
Anatomical terminology

The mammillotegmental fasciculus (or mammillotegmental tract, mammillo-tegmental bundle of Gudden, or Fasciculus mammillotegmentalis) is a small bundle of efferent fibers from the hypothalamus running from the mammillary body to the tegmentum.[1] Its functions are not well defined for humans, but based on animal studies it seems to be related to regulating visceral function and processing spacial information.[2] 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.[3]

The mammillotegmental fasciculus emerges from the principal mammillary fasciculus of the mammillary body and travels dorsally together with the mammillothalamic tract before splitting off and turning caudally to enter the spinal column. There, it terminates in the tegmentum of the midbrain at the dorsal and ventral tegmental nuclei and the tegmental pontine reticular nucleus.[4]

References

  1. Martin C. Hirsch (1999). Dictionary of Human Neuroanatomy. Springer. p. 79. ISBN 3540665234.
  2. Kwon, Hyeok Gyu; Hong, Ji Heon; Jang, Sung Ho (2011-05-03). "Mammillotegmental tract in the human brain: diffusion tensor tractography study". Neuroradiology 53 (8): 623–626. doi:10.1007/s00234-011-0858-y. ISSN 0028-3940. Retrieved 2015-02-28.
  3. Donkelaar, Hans J. ten (2011-06-21). Clinical Neuroanatomy: Brain Circuitry and Its Disorders (1 edition ed.). Springer Berlin Heidelberg.
  4. Waxman, Stephen (2013-08-02). Clinical Neuroanatomy 27/E (27 edition ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill Medical. ISBN 9780071797979.