Hypothalamus

Not to be confused with Subthalamus or Hypophthalmus.

Hypothalamus
Location of the human hypothalamus
Location of the hypothalamus (cyan) in relation to the pituitary and to the rest of the brain
Details
Part ofBrain
Identifiers
Latinhypothalamus
MeSHD007031
NeuroLex IDbirnlex_734
TA98A14.1.08.401
A14.1.08.901
TA25714
FMA62008
Anatomical terms of neuroanatomy
Look up hypothalamus in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

The hypothalamus (pl.: hypothalami; from Ancient Greek ὑπό (hupó) 'under' and θάλαμος (thálamos) 'chamber') is a small part of the vertebrate 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 basal part of the diencephalon. All vertebrate brains contain a hypothalamus.[2] In humans, it is about the size of an almond.[3]

The hypothalamus has the function of 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,[4] fatigue, sleep, circadian rhythms, and is important in certain social behaviors, such as sexual and aggressive behaviors.[5][6]

  1. ^ Boeree CG. "The Emotional Nervous System". General Psycholoty. Retrieved 18 April 2016.
  2. ^ 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.
  3. ^ Ishii M, Iadecola C (November 2015). "Metabolic and Non-Cognitive Manifestations of Alzheimer's Disease: The Hypothalamus as Both Culprit and Target of Pathology". Cell Metabolism. 22 (5): 761–776. doi:10.1016/j.cmet.2015.08.016. PMC 4654127. PMID 26365177.
  4. ^ "NCI Dictionary of Cancer Terms". National Cancer Institute.
  5. ^ 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.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference motta2009 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).