CONNECTIONS OF LIMBIC SYSTEM & HYPOTHALAMUS

该子项目是利用NIH/NCRR资助的中心赠款提供的资源的许多研究子项目之一。子项目和研究者（PI）可能从另一个NIH来源获得主要资金，因此可以在其他CRISP条目中表示。所列机构为中心，不一定是研究者所在机构。下丘脑和边缘系统被广泛认为是动机和情绪的神经基质，尽管其连接的组织，甚至边缘系统中应该包括哪些结构的定义，都是知之甚少和有争议的。我们在这一课题上的长期目标，现在是在其第二十年的资助，是确定与神经解剖学的方法（神经传递相关分子的通路追踪和组织化学）连接下丘脑不同核团的通路的精确拓扑学组织，从端脑内侧区域支配下丘脑的通路（如杏仁核和海马体），以及从下丘脑下降到脑干和脊髓以启动各种类别的本能、目标导向行为的通路（例如，摄食、生殖和防御）。

This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. The hypothalamus and limbic system are widely thought to provide the neural substrates for motivation and emotion, although the organization of its connections, and indeed the definition of what structures should even be included within the limbic system, is poorly understood and controversial. The long range goal of our work on this topic, which is now in its twentieth year of funding, is to determine with neuroanatomical methods (combined pathway tracing and histochemistry for neurotransmission-related molecules) the precise topographical organization of pathways that interconnect the various nuclei of the hypothalamus, of pathways that innervate the hypothalamus from medial regions of the telencephalon (such as the amygdala and hippocampus), and of pathways that descend from the hypothalamus to brainstem and spinal cord to initiate various classes of instinctive, goal-oriented behavior (e.g., ingestive, reproductive, and defensive).