Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Book

Neuroanatomy, Hypothalamus

Matthew H. Bear  1 , Vamsi Reddy  2 , Pradeep C. Bollu  3
In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2025 Jan.
.
Affiliations
Free Books & Documents
Book

Neuroanatomy, Hypothalamus

Matthew H. Bear et al.
Free Books & Documents

Excerpt

Landmarks defining the regions of the hypothalamus include the lamina terminalis, pituitary gland, mammillary bodies, and superior hypothalamic sulcus (see Figure. The Hypothalamus-Pituitary-Thyroid Axis). The hypothalamus is a bilateral collection of nuclei divided into 3 zones surrounding the third ventricle and the mammillary bodies. The nuclei in the periventricular zone generally regulate the endocrine system, and the nuclei in the medial and lateral zones regulate autonomic and somatic behavior. The hypothalamus is centrally located in the brain, and it connects to the brainstem via the dorsal longitudinal fasciculus, cerebral cortex via the medial forebrain bundle, hippocampus via the fornix, amygdala via the stria terminalis, thalamus via the mammillothalamic tract, pituitary via median eminence, and retina via the retinohypothalamic tract.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Disclosure: Matthew Bear declares no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies.

Disclosure: Vamsi Reddy declares no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies.

Disclosure: Pradeep Bollu declares no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies.

References

    1. Coenen VA, Schumacher LV, Kaller C, Schlaepfer TE, Reinacher PC, Egger K, Urbach H, Reisert M. The anatomy of the human medial forebrain bundle: Ventral tegmental area connections to reward-associated subcortical and frontal lobe regions. Neuroimage Clin. 2018;18:770-783. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Qin C, Li J, Tang K. The Paraventricular Nucleus of the Hypothalamus: Development, Function, and Human Diseases. Endocrinology. 2018 Sep 01;159(9):3458-3472. - PubMed
    1. Wei YC, Wang SR, Jiao ZL, Zhang W, Lin JK, Li XY, Li SS, Zhang X, Xu XH. Medial preoptic area in mice is capable of mediating sexually dimorphic behaviors regardless of gender. Nat Commun. 2018 Jan 18;9(1):279. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Patton AP, Hastings MH. The suprachiasmatic nucleus. Curr Biol. 2018 Aug 06;28(15):R816-R822. - PubMed
    1. Whiting AC, Oh MY, Whiting DM. Deep brain stimulation for appetite disorders: a review. Neurosurg Focus. 2018 Aug;45(2):E9. - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources