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Mammillary body

Part of the limbic system

Field	Value
Name	Mammillary body
Latin	corpus mamillare
(plural: corpora mamillaria)
Image	File:Gray1180_Corpus_Mamillare_highlighted.png
Caption	Sagittal section, "Corpus mamillare" highlighted.
Image2	File:Gray718.png
Caption2	Coronal section of brain through intermediate mass of third ventricle. (Label "Corpora mamillaria" at bottom.)
IsPartOf	Diencephalon
System	Limbic
Components	medial mammillary nucleus
lateral mammillary nucleus
Acronym	mmb

(plural: corpora mamillaria) lateral mammillary nucleus The mammillary bodies also mamillary bodies, are a pair of small round brainstem nuclei. They are 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.

Neuroanatomists have often categorized the mammillary bodies as part of the posterior part of hypothalamus.

Structure

Connections

They are connected to other parts of the brain (as shown in the schematic, below left), and act as a relay for impulses coming from the amygdalae and hippocampi, via the mamillothalamic tract to the thalamus.

The lateral mammillary nucleus has bidirectional connections with the dorsal tegmental nucleus. The medial mammillary nucleus connects with the ventral tegmental nucleus.

Function

File:Slide5dd.JPG|Mammillary body

Mammillary bodies, and their projections to the anterior thalamus via the mammillothalamic tract, are important for recollective memory. According to studies of rats with mammillary body lesions, damage to the medial mammillary nucleus lead to spatial memory deficits.

Clinical significance

Damage to the mammillary bodies due to thiamine deficiency is implied in pathogenesis of Wernicke–Korsakoff syndrome. Symptoms include impaired memory, also called anterograde amnesia, suggesting that the mammillary bodies may be important for memory. Lesions of the medial dorsal and anterior nuclei of the thalami and lesions of the mammillary bodies are commonly involved in amnesic syndromes in humans.

Mammillary body atrophy is present in several other conditions, such as colloid cysts in the third ventricle, Alzheimer's disease, schizophrenia, heart failure, and sleep apnea. In spite of this the exact function of the mammillary bodies is still not clear.

References

[[:en:Henry Gray. (1918). "Anatomy of the Human Body".
(2024). "Neuroanatomy, Mammillary Bodies". StatPearls Publishing.
"Mammillary Bodies". Springer Reference.
(March 2020). ["The mammillary bodies: two memory systems in one?"](http://www.cf.ac.uk/psych/resources/vann2004.pdf }}{{Dead link). Nature Reviews. Neuroscience.
M.B. Carpenter and J. Sutin: ''Human Neuroanatomy'' (8th edition) 1983
(2024). "Neuroanatomy, Mammillary Bodies". StatPearls Publishing.
(July 2010). "Re-evaluating the role of the mammillary bodies in memory". Neuropsychologia.
(January 2005). "Absence of memory dysfunction after bilateral mammillary body and mammillothalamic tract electrode implantation: preliminary experience in three patients". AJNR. American Journal of Neuroradiology.

Info: Wikipedia Source

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limbic-system hypothalamus

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