Pituitary stalk

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Brain: Pituitary stalk
Pituitary stalk not labeled, but is the vertical blue portion.
[[Image:|250px|center|]]
Latin	infundibulum neurohypophyseos
Gray's	subject #189 813
Part of
Components
Artery
Vein
BrainInfo/UW	hier-388
MeSH	A06.407.747

Also see infundibulum for other uses of the term.

The pituitary stalk (also known as the infundibular stalk or simply the infundibulum) is the connection between the hypothalamus and the posterior pituitary.

It carries axons from the magnocellular neurosecretory cells of the hypothalamus down to the posterior pituitary where they release their hormones into the blood.

This connection is called the hypothalamic-hypophyseal tract, and is responsible for the release of oxytocin and antidiuretic hormone.

[edit] Additional images

The sinuses at the base of the skull.	Median sagittal section of brain. The relations of the pia mater are indicated by the red color.	Drawing of a cast of the ventricular cavities, viewed from the side.	The hypophysis cerebri in position. Shown in sagittal section.
Vertical sections of the heads of early embryos of the rabbit. Magnified.

[edit] External links

• Dictionary at eMedicine Pituitary+stalk

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 Pituitary stalk. 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.