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

Mammillary body

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...

 and by fibers that are directly continued from the fornix

Fornix

The fornix is a C-shaped bundle of fibers in the brain, and carries signals from the hippocampus to the hypothalamus.-Structure:...

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The Mammillothalamic fasciculus then connects the mammillary body

Mammillary body

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...

 to the dorsal tegmental nuclei, the ventral tegmental nuclei, and the anterior thalamic nucleus 

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

Hypothalamotegmental tract

The hypothalamotegmental tract is a pathway from the hypothalamus to the reticular formation. Axons from the posterior hypothalamus descend through the mesencephalic and pontine reticular formations. They connect with reticular neurons important in visceral and autonomic activity. The tract is a...

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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.")

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

External links

- "mammillothalamic tract"

• • - "mammillothalamic tract of hypothalamus"
  • - "mammillothalamic tract of thalamus"
• http://isc.temple.edu/neuroanatomy/lab/atlas/dan2/