Stria terminalis
Stria terminalis
Definition
The stria terminalis is a long, thin, C-shaped bundle of white-matter fibres and one of the major pathways carrying information from the amygdala. It arises from the amygdala and passes posteriorly over the hippocampus, curves around the temporal horn of the lateral ventricle, and then courses superiorly and anteriorly along the posterior and superior aspects of the thalamus. Anteriorly, it passes behind the anterior commissure toward the anterior hypothalamus.
The stria terminalis connects the amygdala mainly with the hypothalamus, preoptic area and septal region and therefore forms an important part of the limbic pathways involved in emotional responses, memory, and sexual behaviour.
References
Kwon, H.G., Byun, W.M., Ahn, S.H., Son, S.M. and Jang, S.H. (2011) ‘The anatomical characteristics of the stria terminalis in the human brain: A diffusion tensor tractography study’, Neuroscience Letters, 500, pp. 99–102.
Lebow, M.A. and Chen, A. (2016) ‘Overshadowed by the amygdala: the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis emerges as key to psychiatric disorders’, Molecular Psychiatry, 21, pp. 450–463.
