Location of the hypothalamus (cyan) in relation to the pituitary and to the rest of the brain
Details
Part of
Brain
Identifiers
Latin
hypothalamus
MeSH
D007031
NeuroLex ID
birnlex_734
TA98
A14.1.08.401 A14.1.08.901
TA2
5714
FMA
62008
Anatomical terms of neuroanatomy
[edit on Wikidata]
The hypothalamus (pl.: hypothalami; from Ancient Greek ὑπό (hupó) 'under', and θάλαμος (thálamos) 'chamber') is a small part of the brain that contains a number of nuclei with a variety of functions. One of the most important functions is to link the nervous system to the endocrine system via the pituitary gland. The hypothalamus is located below the thalamus and is part of the limbic system.[1] It forms the ventral part of the diencephalon. All vertebrate brains contain a hypothalamus.[2] In humans, it is the size of an almond.[citation needed]
The hypothalamus is responsible for regulating certain metabolic processes and other activities of the autonomic nervous system. It synthesizes and secretes certain neurohormones, called releasing hormones or hypothalamic hormones, and these in turn stimulate or inhibit the secretion of hormones from the pituitary gland. The hypothalamus controls body temperature, hunger, important aspects of parenting and maternal attachment behaviours, thirst,[3] fatigue, sleep, circadian rhythms, and is important in certain social behaviors, such as sexual and aggressive behaviors.[4][5]
^Boeree CG. "The Emotional Nervous System". General Psycholoty. Retrieved 18 April 2016.
^Lemaire LA, Cao C, Yoon PH, Long J, Levine M (April 2021). "The hypothalamus predates the origin of vertebrates". Science Advances. 7 (18): eabf7452. Bibcode:2021SciA....7.7452L. doi:10.1126/sciadv.abf7452. PMC 8081355. PMID 33910896.
^"NCI Dictionary of Cancer Terms". National Cancer Institute.
^Saper CB, Scammell TE, Lu J (October 2005). "Hypothalamic regulation of sleep and circadian rhythms". Nature. 437 (7063): 1257–1263. Bibcode:2005Natur.437.1257S. doi:10.1038/nature04284. PMID 16251950. S2CID 1793658.
^Cite error: The named reference motta2009 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
All vertebrate brains contain a hypothalamus. In humans, it is the size of an almond.[citation needed] The hypothalamus is responsible for regulating certain...
lateral hypothalamus (LH), also called the lateral hypothalamic area (LHA), contains the primary orexinergic nucleus within the hypothalamus that widely...
of the hypothalamus, from the floor of the third ventricle. The posterior pituitary hormones are synthesized by cell bodies in the hypothalamus. The magnocellular...
(female) ovaries. The hypothalamus, pancreas, and thymus also function as endocrine glands, among other functions. (The hypothalamus and pituitary glands...
innervated by the hypothalamus; the hormones oxytocin and vasopressin are synthesized by neuroendocrine cells in the hypothalamus and stored at the nerve...
ovaries, testicles, thyroid gland, parathyroid gland, hypothalamus and adrenal glands. The hypothalamus and pituitary glands are neuroendocrine organs. The...
The ventromedial nucleus of the hypothalamus (VMN, VMH or ventromedial hypothalamus) is a nucleus of the hypothalamus. In 2007, Kurrasch et al. found...
The hypothalamus secretes tropic hormones that target the anterior pituitary, and the thyroid gland secretes thyroxine, which targets the hypothalamus and...
are on either side of the third ventricle, including the thalamus, the hypothalamus, the epithalamus and the subthalamus. The diencephalon is one of the...
The paraventricular nucleus (PVN, PVA, or PVH) is a nucleus in the hypothalamus. Anatomically, it is adjacent to the third ventricle and many of its neurons...
The posterior nucleus of the hypothalamus is one of the many nuclei that make up the hypothalamic region of the brain. Its functions include elevation...
Instead, it is largely a collection of axonal projections from the hypothalamus that terminate behind the anterior pituitary, and serve as a site for...
five-vesicle stage, the forebrain separates into the diencephalon (thalamus, hypothalamus, subthalamus, and epithalamus) and the telencephalon which develops into...
connecting the hypothalamus with the anterior pituitary. Its main function is to quickly transport and exchange hormones between the hypothalamus arcuate nucleus...
of the pituitary gland or hypothalamus, cf. hypopituitarism) or tertiary adrenal insufficiency (disease of the hypothalamus, with a decrease in the release...
Adrenal insufficiency can also occur when the pituitary gland or the hypothalamus do not produce adequate amounts of the hormones that assist in regulating...
the hypothalamus. The trigger of a fever, called a pyrogen, results in the release of prostaglandin E2 (PGE2). PGE2 in turn acts on the hypothalamus, which...
gland is regulated by hormones secreted by the hypothalamus. Neuroendocrine cells in the hypothalamus project axons to the median eminence, at the base...
nucleus of the hypothalamus (also known as ARH, ARC, or infundibular nucleus) is an aggregation of neurons in the mediobasal hypothalamus, adjacent to the...
synthesized from the AVP gene as a peptide prohormone in neurons in the hypothalamus, and is converted to AVP. It then travels down the axon terminating in...
regulates thirst is located in the anterior part of the hypothalamus. The anterior hypothalamus is in close proximity to osmoreceptors which regulate the...
lordosis reflex with postural balance. More importantly, the ventromedial hypothalamus sends projections that inhibit the reflex at the spinal level, so it...
the septal region, the hypothalamus, and the thalamus, but the stria terminalis reaches the septal region and the hypothalamus in a much longer and less...
is a set of interconnected nuclei that are located in the brainstem, hypothalamus, and other regions. It is not anatomically well defined, because it includes...
often categorized the mammillary bodies as part of the posterior part of hypothalamus. They are connected to other parts of the brain (as shown in the schematic...
follows: The hypothalamus uses thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH or thyroliberin) to tell the pituitary to release thyrotropin. The hypothalamus uses...
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