Brain: Diencephalon
Diagram depicting the main subdivisions of the embryonic vertebrate brain. These regions will later differentiate into forebrain, midbrain and hindbrain structures.
Reconstruction of periphera nerves of a human embryo of 10.2 mm. (Label for Diencephalon is at left.)
Latin	diencephalon
Gray's	subject #189 807
NeuroNames	hier-271
MeSH	Diencephalon
NeuroLex ID	birnlex_1503

The diencephalon (or interbrain) is the region of the brain that includes the thalamus, hypothalamus, epithalamus, prethalamus or subthalamus and pretectum. The diencephalon is located at the midline of the brain, above the mesencephalon of the brain stem. The diencephalon contains the zona limitans intrathalamica as morphological boundary and signalling center between the prethalamus and the thalamus.

[edit] Organization

• diencephalon
  • mid-diencephalic territory
    • prethalamus
    • zona limitans intrathalamica
    • thalamus
  • hypothalamus
  • epithalamus
  • pretectum

[edit] Roles

The diencephalon is the part of the forebrain that contains such important structures as the thalamus, hypothalamus and the posterior portion of the pituitary gland. The hypothalamus performs numerous vital functions, most of which relate directly or indirectly to the regulation of visceral activities by way of other brain regions and the autonomic nervous system.

[edit] See also

• List of regions in the human brain

[edit] External links

• BrainMaps at UCDavis diencephalon

• NIF Search - Diencephalon via the Neuroscience Information Framework

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