Limbic system
Dr Nasna C P
Senior Resident
Limbic system
• Broca in 1878
• MacLean - Visceral brain
• Nauta
• Rhinencephalon
• Phylogenetically oldest
• Lie beneath the neocortex
•Rhinencephalon
Limbic
system -
organization
Consist of :
Limbic cortex
Subcortical structures
Limbic cortex
• Phylogenetically oldest part of cerebral cortex
• Made up of primitive types of cortical tissues
(allocortex)
• Surrounds subcortical structures
Limbic cortex
• Consists of :
Cingulate gyrus
Subcallosal gyrus
Orbitofrontal area
Uncus
Parahippocampal gyrus
Subcortical structures
Anterior
Portions Nu of Septal
of BG Thalamus area
Hypo
thalamus Para
Hippocam
olfactory
pus
area
Amygdala
Connections
Connections:
Bundle of axons connecting various
components of limbic system
Fornix
Mamillothalamic tract
Stria terminalis
Medial forebrain bundle
Papez circuit
Fornix :
Connects—
Hippocampus,
uncus and amygdala
to
2 mamillary bodies
Mamillothalamic
tract :
• Mammillary body and
anterior nucleus of
thalamus
•Tract of
Vicq d’Azyr
Striae terminalis :
Amygdala to thalamus –
To preoptic and anterior
nucleus of
hypothalamus
• Medial forebrain
bundle :
• Septal and orbitofrontal
region—
• Through middle of
hypothalamus –
• To reticular formation –
• Carries fibers in both
directions
Papez circuit
Closed circuit
Cingulate gyrus
Hippocampus
Mamillary bodies
Anterior nucleus of thalamus
Papez circuit
Cingulate
gyrus
Anterior nucleus
of Thalamus Hippocampus
Mamillo
thalamic Mamillary Fornix
tract body
Hypothalamus
Extended Papez circuit
Association
cortices
Cingulate
gyri
Anterior Hippocampus
thalamic Nu PAPEZ CIRCUIT
Mamillary
body
Hypothalamus Amygdala
24-Mar-25 18
• Papez circuit :-
• Responsible for resting EEG
• Generation of emotions
• Emotional experience may arise from activity
initiated in the cortex or in the hypothalamus
Unique features of limbic system connections
Paucity of connections b/n LS and
neocortex
• Emotions cannot be
turned on or off at will
Prolonged after discharge of circuits
following stimuli
• Emotional responses are prolonged and outlast
stimuli that initiate them.
Functions
Functions of
limbic system
• Olfaction
• Autonomic functions
• Regulation of feeding behaviour
• Emotional behaviour
• Learning and memory
1…Role in olfaction
• Primitive response to olfaction (eg:- salivation, licking etc)
(mainly septal nucleus, hypothalamus)
• Help to learn to like or dislike food
(mainly amygdala, hippocampus)
2….Autonomic function
• Stimulation of amygdala → autonomic responses
• Changes in cardiovascular, respiratory and gastrointestinal
system
3…Regulation of feeding behaviour
• Mainly through
Hypothalamus and Amygdala
• Hypothalamus – regulation through feeding and
satiety centers
• Amygdala – stimulation produces movements related
to feeding:-chewing, swallowing, licking
4….Maternal behaviour
• Function of cingulate gyrus
• Concerned with nursing and protection
of offspring by mother
• Lesion of cingulate gyrus – depression of maternal behavior
5….Emotional behaviour
• Emotions :-
• an aroused state involving intense feeling,
autonomic activation and related behaviour
• Affective component ( feeling) and physical component
Physiology of emotions
EMOTION
Cognition
Mental Affect
Emotions Conation
↑ BP & HR
Physical
Sweating
y
EMOTION
• Accompany many of our
Cognition
conscious experiences.
It is an aroused state
Affect
involving
• Intense feeling
• Autonomic activation
• Related behavior Conation
• Role of hypothalamus
• Through ‘Papez circuit’
• Role of amygdala
• Co ordinates affective component of emotions with
autonomic response to emotions
• Role of peripheral nervous system
• ANS – chief mediator of emotional output
• Somatic motor neurons – changes in skeletal muscles
Some emotional behaviors are:
• Sexual behavior
• Feeling of reward and punishment
• Rage, fear and placidity
Sexual behaviour and reproduction
• Limbic cortex and neocortex – stimulate
• Pyriform cortex overlying amygdala – inhibit (in males)
• Hypothalamus – elicit sexual behaviour
• Modified by gonadal hormones and cerebral cortex
Feeling of reward and punishment
• A system producing feeling
of pleasure on stimulation – reward centers
• A system producing feeling
of displeasure on stimulation –
punishment centers / avoidance system
Role in behaviour& emotions
James Olds & Peter Milner
Major reward centers
• Ventral tegmentum
• Nucleus accumbens
• Medial forebrain bundle
• Prefrontal cortex
Less potent reward centers
• Septum
• Amygdala
• Certain areas in thalamus and basal ganglia
Punishment centers
• Lateral portions of hypothalamus
• Dorsal midbrain
• Entorhinal cortex
Importance of reward and punishment
• Sensory experience that cause neither reward nor
punishment are hardly remembered at all.
• If causes reward or punishment response – animal builds up
strong memory traces – reinforcement
• Role in selecting information that we learn ( < 1% retained)
Habituation
Repetition of the stimulus
↓
close Ca channels in presynaptic neurons
↓
↓ Ca influx
↓
↓ release of NT
↓
↓ behavioral responses to the stimulus
\
Sensitization
Strong or noxious stimulus
↓
facilitating interneurons (serotonin)
↓
↑ cAMP in presynaptic neurons
↓
keep Ca channels open
↓
↑ Ca influx
↓
↑ release of neurotransmitters
↓
↑ behavioral response to mild stimuli
• Stimulation of reward centers promote an animal to
learn new tasks – motivation
Addiction –
Repeated compulsive use of substances despite of
negative health consequences
Eg:- use of drugs
Nucleus accumbens
• Stimulation of punishment centers ---
animal shows signs of depression, fear and pain
Fear
• Stimulation of hypothalamus and amygdala
• Amygdala :- concerned with
encoding of memories
that evoke fear
• Anger reaction in which a person Rage
loses his temper in response to
minor stimulus
Held in check by :-
• VMN of hypothalamus
• Hippocampus and limbic cortex
Aggression :- violent form of rage.
• Stimulation of hypothalamus, amygdala
• Testosterone
Placidity
• Emotional state in which individual is not disturbed even in
response to a major irritating stimulus
• Stimulation of reward centers
Applied Aspects
KLUVER BUCY SYNDROME
– Oral tendencies
– Visual agnosia
– Loss of fear
– Decreased aggressiveness & inc tameness
– Hyper sexuality
– Omniphagia – changes in dietary habits
– Loss of recent memory
– Extremely curious
Disorders of Memory
Amnesia → loss or impairment of memory
• Retrograde amnesia
• Inability to recall memories from the long-
term memory stores.
• Transient brain malfunctionerase early
memory
• Follows a traumatic event that interferes
with the normal activity of the brain
Disorders of Memory
Amnesia → loss or impairment of memory
• Anterograde amnesia
• Inability to store new information in the long-term memory
for later recall.
• Lesions of the medial portions of the temporal lobe, a
region that include the hippocampus & amygdala ,
• Ablation of the Posterior • Ablation of the Anterior
Orbital Frontal Cortex. Cingulate Gyri & Subcallosal
Gyri.
• Insomnia associated with intense • Releases the rage centers of the
motor restlessness, becoming septum, hypothalamus from
unable to sit still and moving about prefrontal inhibitory influence -
continuously Rage
Summary
• Rim of cortical tissue around the hilus of the cerebral
hemisphere & a group of associated subcortical deep
structures
• Amygdala, hippocampus, cingulate grus, subcallosal
gyrus, orbitofrontal cortex, thalamus, hypothalamus,
• Neocortex affects emotions, not turned off or on, prolonged
after effect
• Functions of limbic system: Olfaction, behaviour & emotions,
learning & memory, emotional exteriorisation, feeding, sexual
& maternal behaviour
• Applied aspects: Kluver Bucy syndrome, amnesia
