The morphology of the diencephalon in the Prosimii. II. The Lemuroidea and Lorisoidea. Part II. Epithalamus, subthalamus and hypothalamus.
This study (Part II) deals with the comparative structure of the epithalamus, subthalamus and hypothalamus. The same prosimian species used in the study of the thalamus and metathalamus (Part I) are used here. The epithalamus does not show any remarkable change in the phylogeny of the prosimian diencephalon. In the subthalamus, the nucleus subthalamicus enlarges progressively in size, and shows a very close relationship to the zona incerta, the fields of Forel and the pregeniculate body. The zona incerta is observed to consist of two parts the ventral part relating to the nucleus subthalamicus and the dorsal part ot the nucleus reticularis. The fields of Forel is well differentiated into fields H1 and H2. The hypothalamus is described here having four regions--preoptic, suraoptic, infundibular and mamillary. The preoptic and supraoptic regions appear to be indivisible in all prosimian species, for the constituent nuclei of both regions extend rostrally and caudally in the anterior part of the hypothalamus. The nucleus supraopticus is evidently complicated in structure, as it appears not only to have two separate parts, but also an isthmus that connects these parts. This interlinking strand of cells is termed not the nucleus supraopticus diffuses but the nucleus/area commissuralis postopticus. The nucleus paraventricularis is a massive nucleus, and appears to have a non-neurosecretory part and a neurosecretory part. An interesting feature has been observed in certain prisimian species such as Galago demidovii, Lepilemur and Loris gracilis, the nucleus paraventricularis accessorius which may be regarded as an erratic derivative of either nucleus paraventricularis or nucleus supraopticus. The nucleus tuberalis lateralis makes its first definitive appearance in the Prosimii. The nucleus ventromedialis hypothalami appears to be larger and more clearly defined than the nucleus dorsomedialis hypothalami. From the latter nucleus, a cellular condensation has been observed to stretch lateralwards--nucleus dorsolateralis hypothalami. The hypothalamic areas--anterior, dorsal, lateral and posterior--are not very much different among the prosimian species, although the anterior and posterior hypothalamic areas appear to have more attributes of a nucleus than an area. The mamillary region is very well developed in all prosimian species. The medial mamillary nucleus is clearly divided into several parts. The nucleus mamillaris lateralis is poorly developed, but can be identified lying between the lateral part of the medial mamillary nucleus and the nucleus intercalatus. In regard to the latter nucleus, there is some topographical confusion, but the nucleus intercalatus is easily identified as the bed nucleus of the supramamillary commissure.
D000818:Animals; D007031:Hypothalamus / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D007033:Hypothalamus, Middle / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D007901:Lemuridae / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D008142:Lorisidae / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D008326:Mammillary Bodies / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D010286:Paraventricular Hypothalamic Nucleus / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D010870:Pineal Gland / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D011301:Preoptic Area / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D013495:Supraoptic Nucleus / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D013787:Thalamic Nuclei / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D013788:Thalamus / Q000033:anatomy & histology*