Dorlands
/Elsevier f_03/12356101 | FMA 83849 | |
Latin fasciculus mammillothalamicus TA A14.1.08.671
A14.1.08.954 | ||
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.
Contents
The mammillothalamic fasciculus then connects the mammillary body 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.
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.
Clinical significance
Infarction has been associated with Korsakoff's syndrome.