Limbic system Flashcards

1
Q

What two main functions is the limbic system concerned with?

A

Emotion and memory

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
2
Q

Limbic system components…

A

Amygdala
Hippocampus
Parahippocampal gyrus
Cingulate gyrus
Hypothalamus (mammillary bodies)
Orbital and medial prefrontal cortex (orbitofrontal cortex)
Basal forebrain (nucleus accumbens; parts of basal ganglia)
Some thalamic nuclei (anterior, dorsomedial)
Septal nuclei
Insula

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
3
Q

What are the two parts of the limbic lobe?

A

Cingulate gyrus

Parahippocampal gyrus

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
4
Q

What is the cortical group of the amygdala associated with?

A

Olfactory

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
5
Q

What is the centromedial group of the amygdala associated with?

A

Visceral responses

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
6
Q

What is the basolateral group of the amygdala associated with?

A

Emotional response to stimuli, necessary for emotional (reward), memory.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
7
Q

What is Papez circuit connecting (brief)?

A

Demonstrated that the hypothalamus, via the anterior nucleus of the thalamus, connects to cingulate cortex, which in turn projects to hippocampus that then projects back to hypothalamus.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
8
Q

Explain the pathways in Papez’ circuit?

A

Mammillary bodies - (mammillothalamic tract) - anterior thalamic nucleus - (internal capsule) - cingulate gyrus - parahippocampal gyrus (entorhinal cortex)- perforant pathway - dentate gyrus - subiculum - fornix - mammillary bodies

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q

Inputs to Amygdala

A

All sensory association cortex (also direct sensory input from the thalamus)

Cortical amygdala (part of primary olfactory cortex)

Entorhinal cortex, hippocampus (memory)

Cingulate (conscious emotional experience (feeling), top-down control),

Prefrontal (reward processing, top-down control),

Septal (reward and reinforcement) areas

Mediodorsal thalamus (memory)

Brain stem, visceral sensory

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q

Where are memory inputs to the amygdala from?

A

Entorhinal cortex, hippocampus

Mediodorsal thalamus

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
11
Q

Where are do the olfactory inputs to amygdala?

A

Cortical

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
12
Q

How does the amygdala receive sensory input?

A

From thalamus directly and from sensory association cortex

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
13
Q

What are the two amygdala output pathways?

A

Amygdalofugal pathway

Striae terminalis

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
14
Q

Where does the striae terminalis go?

A

(looping) From medial nuclei of amygdala to septal area, hypothalamus and nucleus accumbens

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
15
Q

What is the primary output for basolateral and central nuclei of the amygdala?

A

Amygdalofugal pathway

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
16
Q

What is the primary output for medial nuclei of the amygdala?

A

Striae terminalis

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
17
Q

Where does the amygdalofugal pathway go?

A

Direct to the hypothalamus, septal area and thalamus

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
18
Q

Klüver-Bucy syndrome

A

Loss of amygdala

Visual agnosia (inability to recognize objects without general loss of visual discrimination)

Excessive oral tendency (oral exploration of objects)

Hypermetamorphosis (excessive visual attentiveness)

Placidity with loss of normal fear and anger responses

Altered sexual behavior (hypersexuality) –

Changes in eating

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
19
Q

What is the role of the amygdala in emotion?

A

Processing social signals of emotions (especially fear)

Facial expressions as well as vocal expressions

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
20
Q

What is the role of the amygdala in conditioning?

A

Emotional fear conditioning/ feeling of fear

Receives sensory stimulus (i.e foot shock stimulus from somatosensory thalamus and cortex or sound stimulus from auditory thalamus and cortex)

Lateral nucleus receives, sends to central nucleus.

Outputs for control sent to central grey, lateral hypothalamus and PVN of hypothalamus.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
21
Q

What is the role of the amygdala in memory?

A

Unusually enhanced memory for emotional aspects of stories compared with non-emotional ones.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
22
Q

What is the role of the amygdala in olfactory processing?

A

Olfactory stimulation activates the amygdala and frontal cortex

Corticomedial amygdala distinguishes intensity of odours.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
23
Q

Where is the hippocampus?

A

Medial part of the temporal lobe “tucked into” the inferior horn of the lateral ventricle.

24
Q

What are the parts of the hippocampus?

A

Hippocampus
Cornu Ammonis (Ammon’s horn CA1-4)
Dentate gyrus
Subiculum

Entorhinal cortex (in parahippocampal gyrus)

25
Q

Hippocampus inputs

A

Cingulate gyrus via cingulum - All association cortex via entorhinal cortex (perforant path)

Septal cortex (ACh) and hypothalamus mammillary bodies via fornix

Amygdala

26
Q

What is the main hippocampal output tract?

A

Fornix

27
Q

Where does the fornix travel?

A

Hippocampus to septal area and mammillary bodies

28
Q

How does the hippocampus output to the association cortex?

A

Parahippocampal gyrus

29
Q

What cells are in the dentate gyrus?

A

Granule cells

30
Q

What connections do granule cells form?

A

Excitable connections with CA3 neurons (mossy fibres)

31
Q

What do CA3 mossy fibres form connections with?

A

CA3 pyramidal cells form monosynaptic connections with CA1 pyramidal cells (Schaffer collaterals)

All excitatory (glutamate release)

32
Q

What are the CA3-CA1 connections called?

A

Schaffer collaterals

33
Q

What feeds into the granule cells of the DG?

A

Perforant path from the entorhinal cortex

34
Q

Where do CA1 cells project?

A

CA1 cells project to the subiculum, fornix, then output

35
Q

What is the dorsal/posterior hippocampus associated with?

A

Memory and spatial navigation

Place cells: Support cognitive map of known location (taxi drivers!). Also episodic memory in humans

Time cells: Fire at successive moments in temporally structured experiences (flow of time)

36
Q

What is the ventral/anterior hippocampus associated with?

A

Anxiety-related behaviours

In primates, amygdala projecting neurons are focally restricted to most anterior CA1 and prosubiculum

37
Q

How is the entorhinal cortex topographically arranged associated with?

A

Infralimbic and prelimbic areas (cingulate cortex areas involved in emotional regulation) - ventral/anterior parts

Retrosplenial cortex (spatial processing in cingulate cortex) - dorsal/posterior parts

38
Q

What are the inputs to the mammillary bodies?

A

Fornix (hippocampus)

39
Q

What are mammillary body outputs?

A

Anterior nucleus of thalamus, via mammillothalamic tract (thence to cingulate gyrus)

To midbrain tegmental motor structures (pedunculopontine nucleus)

40
Q

What is the mammillothalamic tract?

A

Mammillary bodies to anterior nucleus of thalamus

41
Q

What is the mammillotegmental tract?

A

To midbrain tegmental area pedunculopontine nucleus

42
Q

What midbrain nucleus does the mammillary bodies project to?

A

Pedunculopontine nucleus

43
Q

Inputs to the nucleus accumbens

A

Prefrontal cortex (particularly the prelimbic cortex and infralimbic cortex)

Basolateral amygdala

Ventral hippocampus,

Thalamic nuclei (specifically the midline thalamic nuclei and intralaminar nuclei of the thalamus)

Glutamatergic projections from the ventral tegmental area (VTA) (dopaminergic inputs from the ventral tegmental area, which connect via the mesolimbic pathway)

44
Q

What loop is the nucleus accumbens associated with?

A

The nucleus accumbens is often described as one part of a cortico-basal ganglia-thalamo-cortical loop.

45
Q

Nucleus accumbens outputs

A

The output neurons of the nucleus accumbens send axonal projections to the basal ganglia and the ventral globus pallidus.

The VP, in turn, projects to the medial dorsal nucleus of the dorsal thalamus, which projects to the prefrontal cortex as well as the striatum.

46
Q

What makes up the NAcc?

A

The NAcc is made up mainly of medium spiny neurons containing mainly D1-type or D2-type dopamine receptors.

47
Q

Role of NAcc

A

The D1-type medium spiny neurons mediate reward-related cognitive processes, whereas the D2-type medium spiny neurons mediate aversion-related cognition.

DA in nucleus accumbens

Does NOT directly influence encoding of specific goals or outcomes

May influence brain regions that evaluate stimuli and carry out goal selection by influencing saliency of specific options

48
Q

What is the orbitofrontal cortex?

A

Part of the pre-frontal cortex which is very important for behavioural inhibition, inhibitory self-control and emotional regulation.

49
Q

Lateral OFC

A

Evaluation of options independently of each other, (i.e. each option on its own, given sensory and emotional context).

Looks at instantaneous, subjective value.

Takes into account information from amygdala, hypothalamus, insular cortex (taste, disgust), DA neurons in midbrain (can heighten value attributed to a signal), sensory info from thalamus.

50
Q

Medial OFC

A

Compares and contrasts options in order to make a choice, (i.e. value comparison)

51
Q

OFC inputs

A
Amygdala (via uncinate fasciculus) 
Hypothalamus 
Hippocampus 
NAcc
Association cortex (all sensory inputs) 
Medio-dorsal (DM) thalamus
52
Q

OFC outputs

A

VTA

Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (and from there to premotor cortex)

53
Q

The major output pathway from the amygdala is the

A

Striae terminalis

54
Q

The major target of output from the amygdala is the

A

Hypothalamus

55
Q

The anterior thalamus receives a major input from the

A

Mammillary body which is linked functionally to the output of the hippocampus

56
Q

The fornix has

A

Both afferent and effect fibres to the hippocampus