MODULE 13
The HIPPOCAMPUS
- - - Review Figure 13-1, Figure 13-2 and Figure 13-3 to get an idea of where the hippocampus is. Remember that while it seems to be a subcortical structure, it is actually the medial edge of the temporal lobe. Then read Blumenfeld's Pages 772-80 for a good description of it. The best way to view this structure is by looking at a section through it. Blumenfeld shows such sections in his Figures 18.7 and 18.8. Look at our Cu Slide 24 for a comparable view. The main input to the hippocampus is from the entorhinal cortex of the parahippocampal gyrus. One output pathway is a projection back to the cortex of the temporal lobe; a second one is the fornix, which projects to the septal region and hypothalamus. The connections to the temporal lobe are not obvious on the slides, but you should trace the course of the fornix using the slide list at the end of the module. In addition to our figures, Blumenfeld's Figure 18.13 should help.
- - - Both Fitzgerald and Haines also have excellent figures of this difficult area. See Fitzgerald's Figures 34.3, 4, 5, 6 7 or Haines' Figures 31-3, 4, 5.
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