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Brain: Lateral hypothalamus
Lateral hypothalamus is 'LT', at right, in yellow.
[[Image:|250px|center|]]
Latin	'
Gray's	subject #
Part of
Components
Artery
Vein
BrainInfo/UW	hier-409
MeSH	A08.186.211.730.385.357.300

The Lateral hypothalamus or lateral hypothalamic area is a part of the hypothalamus.

It is concerned with hunger. Damage to this can cause reduced food intake.

[edit] Function

The glucostatic explanation is based on the homeostatic theory which indicates that the body has balanced states of equilibrium for each system. When out of balance, the body will be pushed to restore balance. Therefore, when the blood sugar level drops, the glucostatic receptors in the blood take a message to the lateral hypothalamus, which is the feeding center of the brain. This causes certain neurons in the brain to fire in unison, creating the sensation of hunger. Now the person wants to eat.

When the glucose level increases because the person is eating or has eaten, the glucostatic receptors in the blood then send a message to the Ventro-medial Hypothalamus (the satiety or satisfaction center) and the sensation of fullness occurs.

[edit] Lateral zone of hypothalamus

The "lateral zone of hypothalamus" is a similarly named compound structure, consisting of the following two structures:^[1][2]

• lateral hypothalamic area
• lateral preoptic nucleus

preoptic nuclei as well as the supraoptic and tuberal nuclei and the nuclei of the mammillary body

[edit] References

1. ↑ BrainInfo at the University of Washington ancil-316
2. ↑ Dorlands/Elsevier z_01/12870112

This box: view • talk • edit Brain: diencephalon
Epithalamus	Pineal body • Habenula (Habenular nuclei)
Hypothalamus	anterior: Anterior hypothalamic nucleus • Paraventricular nucleus • Preoptic area • Supraoptic nucleus • Suprachiasmatic nucleus intermediate/middle/tuberal/pituitary: infundibulum • median eminence • arcuate nucleus • Ventromedial nucleus • Dorsomedial hypothalamic nucleus • Tuber cinereum, Pituitary gland (Anterior pituitary, Posterior pituitary) posterior/lateral: posterior nucleus • Mammillary body • Lateral nucleus other: Medial forebrain bundle
Subthalamus	Subthalamic nucleus • Zona incerta • Thalamic fasciculus • Lenticular fasciculus
Thalamus/nuclei	Ventral nuclear group (VA/VL, VP/VPM/VPL) • MD • AN • LNG (Pulvinar) • Intralaminar nucleus (Centromedian nucleus) • Midline nuclear group • Thalamic reticular nucleus • Metathalamus (MG, LG) • Interthalamic adhesion
Third ventricle	recesses: (Optic recess, Infundibular recess, Suprapineal recess, Pineal recess) • Hypothalamic sulcus
Other	Interventricular foramina • Optic chiasm • Subfornical organ • Mammillothalamic tract

This page uses content from the English-language version of Wikipedia. The original article was at Lateral hypothalamus. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Psychology Wiki, the text of Wikipedia is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.