medial mammillary nucleus


medial mammillary nucleus

The largest of the three mammillary nuclei -- the medial, intermediate, and lateral mammillary nuclei. The medial mammillary nucleus is spherical and nearly fills the mammilary body. The mammillary nuclei -- members of the limbic system -- receive axons from the hippocampus (via the fornix) and the midbrain tementum (via a tract called the mammillary peduncle), and they send axons to the anterior nucleus of the thalamus (via the mammillothalamic tract) and the midbrain tegmentum (via the mammillotegmental tract). See: limbic system for illusSee also: nucleus