What is "mammillary body"

n. (context anatomy English) One of a pair of small round bodies, located on the undersurface of the human brain, that act as a relay for impulses coming from the amygdala and hippocampus to the thalamus, and (as part of the diencephalon) form part of the limbic system.

n. one of two small round structures on the undersurface of the brain that form the terminals of the anterior arches of the fornix [syn: mamillary body, corpus mamillare]

The mammillary bodies are a pair of small round bodies, located on the undersurface of the brain that, as part of the diencephalon, form part of the limbic system. They are located at the ends of the anterior arches of the fornix. They consist of two groups of nuclei, the medial mammillary nuclei and the lateral mammillary nuclei.

Neuroanatomists have often categorized the mammillary bodies as part of the hypothalamus.