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Mammillary body: anatomy, location and function

The mammillary bodies are paired round bumps on the underside of the hypothalamus that are part of the memory circuit. They receive input from the hippocampus via the fornix and project to the anterior thalamic nuclei via the mammillothalamic tract, contributing to memory.

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Highlighted in the model: Mammillary body. Click any part to read about it, or switch off “Highlight topic” to see the whole body. 3D data: BodyParts3D, © The Database Center for Life Science, CC BY 4.0; meshes simplified and recoloured. The model is an adult male.

Mammillary body at a glance

What it is
The mammillary bodies are paired round bumps on the underside of the hypothalamus that are part of the memory circuit.
Location
They lie on the ventral surface of the hypothalamus, behind the tuber cinereum and in front of the interpeduncular fossa.
Function
They receive input from the hippocampus via the fornix and project to the anterior thalamic nuclei via the mammillothalamic tract, contributing to memory.
Body system
Nervous · single, midline structure
FMA ID
FMA74877 (Foundational Model of Anatomy)

Key facts

  • Part of the Papez circuit.
  • Each contains the mammillary nuclei, and the mammillothalamic tract runs from them to the anterior nucleus of the thalamus.
  • They form the posterior boundary of the tuber cinereum on the base of the brain.

Clinical relevance

Damage to the mammillary bodies, for example in thiamine deficiency (Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome), is associated with memory loss.

Structures next to the mammillary body

The nearest named structures in the 3D model, measured from the centre of each part:

References

  1. Foundational Model of Anatomy: Mammillary body (FMA74877). EMBL-EBI Ontology Lookup Service.
  2. OpenStax. Anatomy and Physiology 2e, §12.1 Basic Structure and Function of the Nervous System. Rice University, 2022.
  3. Mitsuhashi N. et al. (2009). BodyParts3D: 3D structure database for anatomical concepts. Nucleic Acids Research 37, D782–D785. Data © The Database Center for Life Science, CC BY 4.0.

Related anatomy

Explore the whole body in the interactive 3D human anatomy model, or browse the A–Z list of human structures.